UK bank holidays: Full list for 2024

The next bank holiday for 2024 will be the summer bank holiday on 5 August (Scotland) and 26 August (England, Wales and Northern Ireland).

In England and Wales, you'll enjoy a total of eight bank holidays. In Scotland, tick on one more for nine. In Northern Ireland you can experience a total of ten bank holidays.

Most UK bank holidays happen on a Monday. This is mainly due to the 'substitute day' model, where a bank holiday that would otherwise happen on the weekend is transferred to the upcoming Monday. This typically leads to a large proportion of holidays happening on Monday, with the typical exceptions being Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Many employees in the UK will be thinking about how they can make the most out of their annual leave in 2024. For employers, they will need to plan around holidays to ensure they have enough people at work (and track those absences accordingly).

Some common methods include:

• Simply planning ahead - Knowing which bank holidays are happening in 2024, and when they are happening, is the first step. It helps immensely to plan ahead and scope out potential vacation days well in advance.

• Embrace 'bridge days' - Commonly referred to as 'bridge days' in other European countries, think about how you can partner your holiday with a bank holiday (effectively adding a 'free day' to the mix).

As an employer, you may even want to think about how you educate and promote around bank holidays for your employees. For many, this could be a teaching opportunity to help employees embrace wellbeing, enjoy much-needed time off and unplug.

The world of work is only becoming more complex. The last thing you should be worrying about is calculating holiday entitlements, tracking them or ensuring you are legally compliant. Allow us to help.

Personio offers an HR software that includes a leave management software that can manage holiday requests, track every kind of leave (from emergencies to sicknesses and bank holidays) alongside all of your other core HR processes.

Over 10,000+ customers in the UK and Europe trust us to help. Get in touch with one of our helpful HR experts today, or start your own free trial to give Personio a go right away.