Working days
Count working days between two dates, with weekends and public holidays removed. Pick a country, since the holidays differ.
Working days
253
Both the first and the last day are counted.
- Calendar days365
- Saturdays and Sundays104
- Holidays on weekdays8
Holidays in the period
- New Year’s Day2026-01-01
- Good Friday2026-04-03
- Easter Monday2026-04-06
- Early May bank holiday2026-05-04
- Spring bank holiday2026-05-25
- Summer bank holiday2026-08-31
- Christmas Day2026-12-25
- Boxing Day (substitute day)2026-12-28
Only statutory public holidays count. Days such as Christmas Eve, which many people get off through their contract, count as working days here.
The countries differ more than you would expect. Sweden keeps Epiphany, Midsummer and All Saints, which Norway and Denmark do not. Norway and Denmark in turn keep Maundy Thursday, which has never been a Swedish holiday, and Whit Monday, which Sweden dropped in 2005 in favour of its National Day. For Germany only the nine days that are public holidays nationwide are counted; the individual states add between none and four of their own. Italy dropped Ascension Day, Corpus Christi, St Joseph’s Day and the feast of Saints Peter and Paul in 1977, and Whit Monday has never been a civil holiday there. Instead Italy has days that most of the other countries lack, such as 25 April, 2 June, St Francis of Assisi Day from 2026 and the Immaculate Conception on 8 December. France has neither Boxing Day nor Good Friday, which are holidays only in Alsace-Moselle, but it has five of its own from Victory Day on 8 May to Armistice Day on 11 November. The Netherlands, Italy, France, Poland, Mexico and the United States all work on Good Friday; the Dutch have King’s Day on 27 April instead. The United Kingdom has no single list: England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own bank holidays. For the United States the eleven federal holidays are counted. For Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom you can choose a region.
How it works
Both the first and the last day count, as is usual in a plan or schedule. Court deadlines in England and Wales are counted differently: under rule 2.8 of the Civil Procedure Rules a period of days is counted in clear days, which leaves out the day on which the period begins.
Saturdays and Sundays are always removed. Public holidays can be switched off, since not every organisation follows the same calendar.
England and Wales have eight bank holidays a year: New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, the early May and spring bank holidays, the summer bank holiday at the end of August, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own lists, which you can choose under Region.
When a bank holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the next weekday becomes the substitute day, and that is the day removed here. In the United States a federal holiday on a Saturday is observed on the Friday, and one on a Sunday on the Monday.
Easter governs Good Friday and Easter Monday, and in several countries more days than that, falling by the church’s rule on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox on 21 March. The date is calculated for each year.
A holiday falling on a Saturday or Sunday is not removed twice, and the list shows only those holidays that actually remove a working day.
Working days per month in the United Kingdom
Working days, Monday to Friday except bank holidays, for every month this year and next. The figures use the bank holidays for England and Wales and come from the same rules as the tool above.
| Month | 2026 | 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| January | 21 | 20 |
| February | 20 | 20 |
| March | 22 | 21 |
| April | 20 | 22 |
| May | 19 | 19 |
| June | 22 | 22 |
| July | 23 | 22 |
| August | 20 | 21 |
| September | 22 | 22 |
| October | 22 | 21 |
| November | 21 | 22 |
| December | 21 | 21 |
| Whole year | 253 | 253 |
2026 has 253 working days, and 8 bank holidays fall on a weekday. At 7.5 hours a day, a common full-time pattern, that is 1,897.5 hours.
2027 has 253 working days, and 8 bank holidays fall on a weekday. At 7.5 hours a day, a common full-time pattern, that is 1,897.5 hours.
Why the number of working days changes
A year has between 260 and 262 weekdays, depending on which day it starts on and whether it is a leap year. What is left after that depends on the bank holidays.
England and Wales have eight bank holidays. Good Friday and Easter Monday move with Easter, and the early May, spring and summer bank holidays are always Mondays. New Year’s Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day have fixed dates, and when one of them falls on a weekend a substitute weekday is given instead. The count of bank holidays on weekdays is therefore eight, and more only when an extra day is proclaimed, as in 2022 and 2023.
Scotland and Northern Ireland differ. Scotland has 2 January and St Andrew’s Day but not Easter Monday, and Northern Ireland adds St Patrick’s Day and the Battle of the Boyne. The tool lets you pick the nation.
Bank holidays are not automatic time off
There is no statutory right to take bank holidays off in the United Kingdom. Almost all workers have a right to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, which is 28 days for someone working five days a week, and an employer may count bank holidays towards that allowance.
What applies to you is in your contract. Many contracts give the bank holidays on top of a smaller allowance, others include them, and shift workers often get a day in lieu instead.
Working days in contracts and deadlines
Contracts and court rules often count in working days or in clear days, and they do not always mean the same thing. Under the Civil Procedure Rules a period of five days or less counts only business days, and clear days exclude the first day, and the last one too when the period ends with an event.
The tool counts both the start and the end date, which is what most schedules assume. Check the wording of the contract or rule you are counting against.