United Kingdom · Monthly capacity
Working days by month 2026: UK calendar and Q4 capacity
See all 2026 monthly working-day totals for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Convert Q4 calendar days into capacity after leave and extra closures.
Direct answer
How many working days are left in October to December 2026?
For a Monday–Friday calendar excluding the bank holidays in the current GOV.UK list, October–December 2026 has 64 days in England and Wales, 63 in Scotland and 64 in Northern Ireland. These are calendar totals before annual leave, sickness, training or extra closures. Subtract those dates once to estimate your own capacity. A bank holiday listing does not prove that every employer closes or that every worker has that day off.
Source checked 2026-09-27: GOV.UK: UK bank holidays. GOV.UK bank-holiday date data.
Q4 capacity: calendar total is only the starting point
| Example: England and Wales | Dates removed | Days remaining |
|---|---|---|
| October–December baseline | None | 64 |
| Assumed approved leave: 26–30 October | 5 weekdays | 59 |
| Assumed extra closure: 24 December | 1 further weekday | 58 |
| 25 and 28 December bank holidays | Already excluded from baseline | 58 |
This is an original planning scenario, not a business-opening promise. Subtracting the two December bank holidays again would incorrectly produce 56 instead of 58. For Scotland the same leave and closure assumptions produce 57 because its Q4 baseline is 63. A part-time worker should enumerate actual scheduled dates: December has 13 Monday–Wednesday dates, 15 Tuesday–Thursday dates and 18 Monday–Thursday dates after the listed holidays, versus 21 Monday–Friday dates. Multiplying 21 by three-fifths gives 12.6, not an actual-date count.
Checklist controls
- Choose the nation and the weekdays you actually work.
- Use the monthly calendar totals as a baseline, not a payroll divisor.
- Remove personal leave and extra closures only when not already excluded.
- Keep a dated list of assumptions alongside any shared capacity figure.
All 2026 monthly totals
Monday–Friday inclusive, subtracting listed bank holidays once. Nation-specific dates are taken from the linked GOV.UK data.
| Month | England & Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21 | 20 | 21 |
| February | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| March | 22 | 22 | 21 |
| April | 20 | 21 | 20 |
| May | 19 | 19 | 19 |
| June | 22 | 21 | 22 |
| July | 23 | 23 | 22 |
| August | 20 | 20 | 20 |
| September | 22 | 22 | 22 |
| October | 22 | 22 | 22 |
| November | 21 | 20 | 21 |
| December | 21 | 21 | 21 |
| 2026 total | 253 | 251 | 251 |
Frequently asked questions
Do the annual totals determine holiday entitlement or salary deductions?
No. They count dates under stated assumptions. Entitlement, pay and deadlines have their own rules. Use the calculator for a custom range and check the relevant employment or service rules before using a count for a decision.
Independent UK planning guide. Local Scottish holidays, employer closures and individual schedules may differ. The annual table uses the GOV.UK data fetched on 27 September 2026. Counts are independently calculated; they are not an official payroll calculation.
Calculate a custom date range · Plan a handover before bank holidays