Hot! Bank Holidays And British Summer Time

Bank and public holidays in England and Wales

There are different bank and public holidays in different parts of the UK. There are currently six permanent bank holidays in England and Wales and an additional one in 2011 and 2012. Christmas Day and Good Friday are public holidays.

The expected bank and public holidays for England and Wales are listed in the table above.

Special bank holidays

There are laws that allow the dates of bank holidays to be changed, or other holidays to be declared, for example to celebrate special occasions.

It has been announced that there will be a special bank holiday in 2012 to celebrate the Queen s Diamond Jubilee. The 2012 late May bank holiday will be moved to Monday 4 June 2012 and an additional Jubilee bank holiday will be on Tuesday 5 June 2012.

There was also a special bank holiday on 29 April 2011 to celebrate the royal wedding.

Substitute days

When the usual date of a bank or public holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, a 'substitute day' is given, normally the following Monday. For example in 2009, Boxing Day was on Saturday, 26 December, so there was a substitute bank holiday on Monday, 28 December.