Northern Ireland Business Day Calculator
Last reviewed: October 14, 2026 · Holiday data: June 23, 2026
Calculate business days in Northern Ireland with its own bank holidays. Like the UK calculator, this page counts Monday to Friday as working days; what changes is the bank holiday list, so due dates and deadlines can land differently from the England and Wales count.
How Northern Ireland differs from England & Wales
Northern Ireland has every England and Wales bank holiday on the same dates and two more: St Patrick's Day on 17 March and the Battle of the Boyne, also called Orangemen's Day, on 12 July. When one of them falls on a weekend, gov.uk lists a substitute day on the following Monday: Monday 18 March 2024 for St Patrick's Day, and Monday 14 July 2025 and Monday 13 July 2026 for the Battle of the Boyne.
Worked example
Adding 3 business days to Monday, March 16, 2026 using Northern Ireland's bank holidays lands on Friday, March 20, 2026. With the England and Wales bank holidays, the same calculation lands on Thursday, March 19, 2026: the gap comes from Northern Ireland's own calendar.
Northern Ireland bank holidays in 2026
| Date | Day | Bank holiday |
|---|---|---|
| January 1 | Thursday | New Year's Day |
| March 17 | Tuesday | St Patrick's Day |
| April 3 | Friday | Good Friday |
| April 6 | Monday | Easter Monday |
| May 4 | Monday | Early May Bank Holiday |
| May 25 | Monday | Spring Bank Holiday |
| July 13 | Monday | Battle of the Boyne (observed) |
| August 31 | Monday | Summer Bank Holiday |
| December 25 | Friday | Christmas Day |
| December 28 | Monday | Boxing Day (observed) |
How to count Northern Ireland business days
For an interactive calculation, use the UK (England and Wales) calculator and add Northern Ireland's own dates under Advanced options, one per line in YYYY-MM-DD form. The block of dates further down this page gives those dates for every year in that form: the Monday-to-Friday dates in Northern Ireland's calendar that the calculator named above does not already leave out.
Northern Ireland bank holiday data is verified against gov.uk/bank-holidays.
Counting business days in Northern Ireland: where the answer moves
The calculator's result for Northern Ireland depends on which calendar it counts against. Everything below compares Northern Ireland's own calendar with England and Wales across 2024 to 2028, using the same engine and the same sourced dates as the year pages.
Northern Ireland's own holidays, year by year
A holiday defined by a rule (the first Monday of a month, the Friday before Easter) keeps its weekday and moves its date; one defined by a date keeps its date and moves its weekday. The table gives Northern Ireland's own days for each year:
| Holiday | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Patrick's Day (observed) | Monday, March 18 | none | none | none | none |
| Battle of the Boyne | Friday, July 12 | none | none | Monday, July 12 | Wednesday, July 12 |
| St Patrick's Day | none | Monday, March 17 | Tuesday, March 17 | Wednesday, March 17 | Friday, March 17 |
| Battle of the Boyne (observed) | none | Monday, July 14 | Monday, July 13 | none | none |
How Northern Ireland's own dates move from year to year
Northern Ireland's list has every England and Wales bank holiday and two more, so a Northern Ireland count is never shorter than the England and Wales one, and is one day longer for each of the two it crosses on a weekday. Across the years this calculator covers: 2024: St Patrick's Day (observed) on Monday, March 18 and Battle of the Boyne on Friday, July 12; 2025: St Patrick's Day on Monday, March 17 and Battle of the Boyne (observed) on Monday, July 14; 2026: St Patrick's Day on Tuesday, March 17 and Battle of the Boyne (observed) on Monday, July 13; 2027: St Patrick's Day on Wednesday, March 17 and Battle of the Boyne on Monday, July 12; 2028: St Patrick's Day on Friday, March 17 and Battle of the Boyne on Wednesday, July 12.
Every weekday where Northern Ireland and England and Wales part company, 2024 to 2028
A Northern Ireland count and a count on England and Wales give the same answer unless the span crosses one of these dates. Each bank holiday that only Northern Ireland has on a weekday pushes a Northern Ireland deadline one working day later; each one that only England and Wales has pulls it one day earlier.
| Date | Holiday | Effect on a Northern Ireland count |
|---|---|---|
| Monday, March 18, 2024 | St Patrick's Day (observed) | Skipped: a bank holiday in Northern Ireland only |
| Friday, July 12, 2024 | Battle of the Boyne | Skipped: a bank holiday in Northern Ireland only |
| Monday, March 17, 2025 | St Patrick's Day | Skipped: a bank holiday in Northern Ireland only |
| Monday, July 14, 2025 | Battle of the Boyne (observed) | Skipped: a bank holiday in Northern Ireland only |
| Tuesday, March 17, 2026 | St Patrick's Day | Skipped: a bank holiday in Northern Ireland only |
| Monday, July 13, 2026 | Battle of the Boyne (observed) | Skipped: a bank holiday in Northern Ireland only |
| Wednesday, March 17, 2027 | St Patrick's Day | Skipped: a bank holiday in Northern Ireland only |
| Monday, July 12, 2027 | Battle of the Boyne | Skipped: a bank holiday in Northern Ireland only |
| Friday, March 17, 2028 | St Patrick's Day | Skipped: a bank holiday in Northern Ireland only |
| Wednesday, July 12, 2028 | Battle of the Boyne | Skipped: a bank holiday in Northern Ireland only |
Ten dates across five years. Weekend holidays are left out because they take no working day either way.
Worked counts across Northern Ireland's own dates
Each example starts on the working day before a date from the table above and adds three working days on both calendars, computed by the same engine as the calculator:
- From Friday, March 15, 2024, three working days in Northern Ireland reach Thursday, March 21; on England and Wales they reach Wednesday, March 20. The difference is St Patrick's Day (observed) on Monday, March 18.
- From Thursday, July 11, 2024, three working days in Northern Ireland reach Wednesday, July 17; on England and Wales they reach Tuesday, July 16. The difference is Battle of the Boyne on Friday, July 12.
Northern Ireland working days by year
Each year's total is its weekdays less the holidays that land on them, so the gap to England and Wales is exactly the holidays on a weekday that only one of the two lists has that year.
| Year | Weekdays | Northern Ireland working days | England and Wales working days | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 262 | 252 | 254 | -2 |
| 2025 | 261 | 251 | 253 | -2 |
| 2026 | 261 | 251 | 253 | -2 |
| 2027 | 261 | 251 | 253 | -2 |
| 2028 | 260 | 250 | 252 | -2 |
Northern Ireland dates for the calculator's Advanced options
The UK calculator counts England and Wales. Its Advanced options accept extra dates to exclude, one per line and nothing else on the line, so pasting this block adds Northern Ireland's own weekday dates for 2024 to 2028. The table above names each date.
2024-03-18 2024-07-12 2025-03-17 2025-07-14 2026-03-17 2026-07-13 2027-03-17 2027-07-12 2028-03-17 2028-07-12
Northern Ireland's list has every bank holiday on England and Wales, so these additions are all the calculator needs.
Statutes and schedules cited in this section
Each rule above comes from one of these sources or from the holiday data source below.
- legislation.gov.uk: Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, section 1 (opens in a new tab)
- legislation.gov.uk: Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, Schedule 1 (opens in a new tab)
Related links
Sources and verification
Official source: gov.uk (opens in a new tab)
Cross-checked against this source on June 23, 2026.
For informational purposes only
This calculator provides general estimates based on business day counting rules. It does not constitute legal advice. Deadlines in legal, regulatory, or contractual matters may be subject to jurisdiction-specific rules, court orders, or statutory exceptions. Always verify critical deadlines with a qualified professional.