Northern Ireland Bank Holidays 2026
Last reviewed: October 14, 2026 · Holiday data: June 23, 2026
The gov.uk list gives Northern Ireland 10 bank holidays in 2026: 10 fall on a weekday and none on a weekend. That leaves 251 working days in 2026. Like the United Kingdom calculator, this page counts Monday to Friday as working days; what changes is the holiday list.
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.
Added in Northern Ireland (2026)
- St Patrick's Day (Tuesday, March 17)
- Battle of the Boyne (observed) (Monday, July 13)
Not observed in Northern Ireland (2026)
Northern Ireland observes every England and Wales bank holiday and drops none.
Northern Ireland bank holiday calendar 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) |
2026 summary
Total days
365
Weekend days
104
Bank holidays on weekdays
10
Working days
251
After subtracting 104 weekend days and 10 weekday-falling bank holidays, Northern Ireland has 251 working days in 2026. The count rests on the gov.uk list for Northern Ireland, not on the England and Wales list.
Northern Ireland in 2026: how the calendar falls
Every figure below is computed from the 2026 dates in the table above and the Monday to Friday week, and each rule names the provision or the official list it is taken from. When a date changes, the sentences change with it.
Northern Ireland's bank holidays under the 1971 Act, in 2026
Paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 to the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 is Northern Ireland's list: 17 March (moved to 18 March from a Sunday), Easter Monday, the last Mondays in May and August, 26 December unless it is a Sunday, and 27 December when 25 or 26 December is a Sunday. It is the England and Wales paragraph with 17 March added. New Year's Day, Good Friday, the first Monday in May, 12 July and Christmas Day are not in that paragraph; gov.uk lists all of them for Northern Ireland, and section 1(5) lets the Secretary of State exercise the Act's proclamation powers there.
St Patrick's Day is Tuesday, March 17 in 2026. 12 July is a Sunday, and gov.uk lists Monday, July 13 for the Battle of the Boyne.
Section 1(4) is the part that bites on deadlines: no one can be compelled to make a payment or do an act on a bank holiday that they could not be compelled to make on Christmas Day or Good Friday, and an obligation falling on one is met on the next day on which it can be compelled. The Act does not name that day.
2026 in Northern Ireland: the same total by a different route
A year's working days are its weekdays minus the holidays that land on them, and both halves move. The weekday supply depends only on the year's length and the weekday it starts on; the holiday half depends on where each fixed date falls that year. 2026 runs 365 days, 52 whole weeks and one day over. It opens and closes on a Thursday, so the spare day is a weekday and the year holds 261 of them.
Ten bank holidays in this page's count fall on weekdays, so Northern Ireland has 251 working days in 2026. That matches 2025 exactly, with the same weekday supply and the same number of weekday holidays. 2027 lands on the same 251.
Substitute bank holidays in 2026
When a fixed-date bank holiday lands on a Saturday or Sunday, gov.uk publishes a weekday as the substitute, and the substitute is the bank holiday this page's count skips. In 2026:
- Battle of the Boyne falls on Sunday, July 12, and gov.uk lists Monday, July 13 in its place.
- Boxing Day falls on Saturday, December 26, and gov.uk lists Monday, December 28 in its place.
The weekend date itself is not in the table: gov.uk lists only the substitute, and that is the date this page counts.
What Northern Ireland's own days cost in 2026
A bank holiday on Northern Ireland's list takes a working day out of the count only when it lands on a weekday that is not also a bank holiday on England and Wales, and a bank holiday on England and Wales that is not on Northern Ireland's list puts one back only when it lands on a weekday. In 2026, Northern Ireland's additions on a weekday are St Patrick's Day on Tuesday, March 17 and Battle of the Boyne (observed) on Monday, July 13.
The net effect is two fewer working days than England and Wales: 251 against 253.
Where the fixed-date holidays land in 2026
A holiday tied to a calendar date moves one weekday later each year, so the week it breaks changes every year while its date stays put. Against 2025, each of these has moved one weekday on:
- New Year's Day is a Thursday in 2026, after a Wednesday in 2025, which leaves Friday, January 2 as a single working day before the weekend on this page's count.
- St Patrick's Day is a Tuesday in 2026, after a Monday in 2025, which strands Monday, March 16 between the weekend and the holiday on this page's count.
- Battle of the Boyne is a Sunday in 2026, after a Saturday in 2025, a weekend day, so the date itself takes no working day on this page's count; the weekend rules above decide whether a weekday is given for it.
- Christmas Day is a Friday in 2026, after a Thursday in 2025, so on this page's count it is one of four days off in a row, Friday, December 25 to Monday, December 28.
- Boxing Day is a Saturday in 2026, after a Friday in 2025, a weekend day, so the date itself takes no working day on this page's count; the weekend rules above decide whether a weekday is given for it.
Long weekends and four-day breaks in Northern Ireland, 2026
A weekday holiday next to a weekend turns two days off into three; two closures side by side, or one on each side of a weekend, make four or more. That is arithmetic on the dates, so the list moves every year even when the holidays do not. On this page's count, Northern Ireland has six such breaks in 2026:
- Friday, April 3 to Monday, April 6: four days, for Good Friday and Easter Monday.
- Saturday, May 2 to Monday, May 4: three days, for Early May Bank Holiday.
- Saturday, May 23 to Monday, May 25: three days, for Spring Bank Holiday.
- Saturday, July 11 to Monday, July 13: three days, for Battle of the Boyne (observed).
- Saturday, August 29 to Monday, August 31: three days, for Summer Bank Holiday.
- Friday, December 25 to Monday, December 28: four days, for Christmas Day and Boxing Day (observed).
Stranded working days in 2026
A holiday on a Tuesday or a Thursday leaves one working day stranded between it and the weekend. In 2026 Northern Ireland has two: Friday, January 2, next to New Year's Day and Monday, March 16, next to St Patrick's Day. Each is a full working day on this page's count even though a day off sits on either side, so a deadline that lands on one is not pushed anywhere.
Northern Ireland month by month, 2026
A month's working days are its weekdays less the holidays on them, so a month with no weekday holiday is set entirely by how its weekdays fall, and every holiday that lands midweek takes one day off the month it sits in.
| Month | Working days, this count | Working days, England and Wales | Weekday holidays |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21 | 21 | New Year's Day (January 1) |
| February | 20 | 20 | none |
| March | 21 | 22 | St Patrick's Day (March 17) |
| April | 20 | 20 | Good Friday (April 3) and Easter Monday (April 6) |
| May | 19 | 19 | Early May Bank Holiday (May 4) and Spring Bank Holiday (May 25) |
| June | 22 | 22 | none |
| July | 22 | 23 | Battle of the Boyne (observed) (July 13) |
| August | 20 | 20 | Summer Bank Holiday (August 31) |
| September | 22 | 22 | none |
| October | 22 | 22 | none |
| November | 21 | 21 | none |
| December | 21 | 21 | Christmas Day (December 25) and Boxing Day (observed) (December 28) |
The third column counts the same months on England and Wales, so the gap between the two columns is exactly what Northern Ireland's own calendar changes.
Where Northern Ireland counts longest without a break in 2026
The longest run of working days with no weekday holiday inside it depends on how far apart consecutive closures sit, so it moves whenever one fixed-date holiday changes weekday. In 2026 it runs from Tuesday, September 1 to Thursday, December 24 in the second half of the year: 83 working days, 16 full working weeks and three days.
The first working day of 2026 on this count is Friday, January 2, after New Year's Day. The last is Thursday, December 31, which is the latest date a count of working days can end on inside 2026.
Which calendar the 2026 count uses
The count uses the bank holidays gov.uk publishes for Northern Ireland. Section 1 of the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 makes the days in Schedule 1 bank holidays and lets further days be appointed by proclamation. gov.uk publishes a separate list for England and Wales, and in 2026 the two lists differ on two weekdays.
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.