2026 monthly planning

Working days by month in 2026 for the UK.

Use this month-by-month view to plan payroll cut-offs, project deadlines and annual leave across England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Direct answer

Most 2026 months have 20 to 23 working days, but bank holidays change the count by nation.

England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland do not always share bank holidays. Pick the correct nation before using the count for a deadline or rota.

Source base: GOV.UK bank holidays and the GOV.UK bank holidays dataset.

Method

Weekdays minus bank holidays.

The counts below exclude Saturdays, Sundays and the listed 2026 bank holidays for each nation.

Working days by month 2026

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

Lowest month

May has 19 working days.

Early May and Spring bank holidays reduce the weekday count across all three nations.

Scotland note

June and November differ.

Scotland has additional 2026 bank holidays that affect the monthly working-day count.

Northern Ireland note

March and July differ.

St Patrick's Day and Battle of the Boyne change the count compared with England and Wales.

How to use the table

Choose the nation that applies to your team or deadline.
Use the monthly count for early planning, not as a legal or payroll ruling.
Check company-specific closure days, local arrangements and part-time patterns separately.
For a date range, use the working days calculator instead of manually adding months.