Spring Bank Holiday 2027

What is the Spring Bank Holiday?

Spring Bank Holiday 2027 is on Monday 31 May 2027. The Spring Bank Holiday is always the last Monday in May, so it falls somewhere between 25 May and 31 May each year.

The Spring Bank Holiday is a bank holiday in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the dates above are those published in the UK government’s bank holiday calendar on gov.uk. Many people still call it the Whitsun bank holiday or Whit Monday, because until the late 1960s it followed the Christian festival of Whitsun; today Whitsun moves with Easter, while the bank holiday is fixed to the last Monday in May. It sits between the Early May Bank Holiday and the Summer Bank Holiday in August.

The Spring Bank Holiday is a public holiday that does not mark any person, battle or anniversary. It is simply a day off at the end of May, written into law so that banks close and most employers treat it as a non-working day. Schools in England and Wales usually time their late-May half-term around it, so many families use the long weekend to start a week away.

Because there is nothing to commemorate, the day has no organiser, theme or official events; its character comes from the time of year and a weekend crowded with fetes, shows, festivals and sport.

Spring Bank Holiday and Whitsun: what is the difference?

Whitsun is the English name for Pentecost, the Christian festival held seven weeks after Easter. The Church of England’s tables and rules in the Book of Common Prayer state that “Whitsunday is Seven Weeks after Easter”, and the Monday and Tuesday after it make up Whitsun Week. Because Easter can fall anywhere between 22 March and 25 April, Whit Sunday can land anywhere between 10 May and 13 June.

For most of the twentieth century the Monday after Whit Sunday, Whit Monday, was the bank holiday. That is why many people still say “Whitsun bank holiday” when they mean the Spring Bank Holiday. The two coincide only when Easter falls at the right point in April. In 2026 they did: Whit Monday, 25 May, was also the bank holiday. In 2027 they do not: Whit Sunday is 16 May, two weeks before the bank holiday on 31 May. In 2028 Whitsun falls a week after the bank holiday, on 4 June.

“Whitsun week” also survives as a name for the late-May school half-term, whatever the church date. When planning, use the bank holiday date and your local authority’s term dates.

The bank holiday rule and who gets the day

The legal basis for the day is Schedule 1 of the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, which lists “the last Monday in May” as a bank holiday in England and Wales and, separately, in Northern Ireland. Scotland’s statutory list in the same schedule names the first Monday in May and the first Monday in August instead, but the Spring Bank Holiday is declared for Scotland too, and gov.uk lists it on the same date in all three of its calendars: 25 May 2026, 31 May 2027 and 29 May 2028. Bank holidays in Scotland are not automatically public holidays, though; as mygov.scot explains, each local council has powers to set its own local public holidays.

The day can be moved by Royal Proclamation: in 2022 it was shifted to Thursday 2 June to sit alongside the Platinum Jubilee bank holiday on Friday 3 June. It never needs a substitute day, because it is defined as a Monday in the first place.

One point that surprises people every year: gov.uk is explicit that “your employer does not have to give you paid leave on bank or public holidays”. Whether the day is off, and paid, depends on your contract.

A short history: from Whit Monday to a fixed Monday

Whit Monday was one of the original Victorian bank holidays and remained the May holiday for almost a century. Because it moved with Easter, it could fall in mid-May one year and mid-June the next, which was awkward for schools, employers and the holiday trade.

In the 1960s the government began trialling fixed dates. The August holiday was moved to the last Monday in August for 1965 and 1966, and ministers wanted to pair it with a fixed spring holiday on the last Monday in May. That was impossible for 1965 because school examinations were already timetabled, and in 1966 the last Monday in May was Whit Monday anyway. The change was announced on 3 June 1965 and confirmed by Royal Proclamation on 28 July 1966, making 1967 the first year the holiday was deliberately held on the last Monday in May rather than at Whitsun, as recorded in Hansard for 12 August 1966.

After about six years of trial, the 1971 Act made the arrangement permanent. Introducing the Bill, Treasury minister Terence Higgins told the Commons that “the change to the last Mondays in May and August has been found to be generally acceptable for England and Wales”.

What happens over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend

The weekend sits where the British year tips into summer: village fetes and carnivals, steam rallies, county and agricultural shows, open gardens and the first big outdoor music events of the season. Museums and heritage sites run family programmes for the half-term week that follows, and Friday afternoon and Monday evening are among the busiest times of the year on the roads.

The weather is a national talking point. The Met Office’s Spring Bank Holiday records show how wide the range is: the hottest bank holiday Monday reached 32.8C on 29 May 1944, the coldest daytime maximum was 5.7C at Dalwhinnie on 6 June 1977, and Kesgrave in Suffolk once recorded 68.2mm of rain on the day.

How to make the most of it

At home. Treat it as the opening weekend of summer: a long walk, a first barbecue, a day at the coast or a garden job you have been putting off.

At work. Confirm who is off and who is covering, tell customers about changed opening hours, and remember that payments due on the Monday usually arrive on the next working day.

In schools and community groups. The bank holiday is a reliable anchor for end-of-May events such as a fete, a sports day or a sponsored walk, and easier to plan for than Whitsun or Easter.

For campaign planners. The late-May long weekend is one of the biggest leisure spending moments of the first half of the year, and the half-term week that follows gives family-focused brands a full seven days of attention.

Related days

• Early May Bank Holiday, the first Monday in May.
• May Day, 1 May, with its maypoles and morris dancing.
• Summer Bank Holiday, the last Monday in August in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and the first Monday in August in Scotland.
• Ascension Day, the Thursday ten days before Whit Sunday.
• Easter Sunday, the date from which Whitsun is counted.