Northern Ireland Bank Holidays 2028

Northern Ireland's bank holidays under the 1971 Act, in 2028

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 Friday, March 17 in 2028. The Battle of the Boyne holiday is Wednesday, July 12.

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.

Why 2028 gives Northern Ireland fewer working days

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. 2028 is a leap year that opens on a Saturday, so its two days beyond 52 whole weeks are a Saturday and a Sunday. It ends up with 260 weekdays, fewer than an ordinary year that starts midweek.

Ten bank holidays in this page's count fall on weekdays, so Northern Ireland has 250 working days in 2028. That is one fewer than 2027 (251). The holidays cost the same number of weekdays both years; the difference is the calendar itself, which supplies one fewer weekday.

Substitute bank holidays in 2028

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 2028:

• New Year's Day falls on Saturday, January 1, and gov.uk lists Monday, January 3 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 2028

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 2028, Northern Ireland's additions on a weekday are St Patrick's Day on Friday, March 17 and Battle of the Boyne on Wednesday, July 12.

The net effect is two fewer working days than England and Wales: 250 against 252.

Where the fixed-date holidays land in 2028

A holiday tied to a calendar date moves one weekday later each year, and two once 29 February has passed, so the week it breaks changes every year while its date stays put. 2028 is a leap year, so every date from March onward jumps two weekdays against 2027:

• New Year's Day is a Saturday in 2028, after a Friday in 2027, 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.
• St Patrick's Day is a Friday in 2028, after a Wednesday in 2027, so on this page's count the weekend after it becomes three days off.
• Battle of the Boyne is a Wednesday in 2028, after a Monday in 2027: a midweek break that leaves two working days on each side of it on this page's count.
• Christmas Day is a Monday in 2028, after a Saturday in 2027, so on this page's count it is one of four days off in a row, Saturday, December 23 to Tuesday, December 26.
• Boxing Day is a Tuesday in 2028, after a Sunday in 2027, so on this page's count it is one of four days off in a row, Saturday, December 23 to Tuesday, December 26.

Long weekends and four-day breaks in Northern Ireland, 2028

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 seven such breaks in 2028:

• Saturday, January 1 to Monday, January 3: three days, for New Year's Day (observed).
• Friday, March 17 to Sunday, March 19: three days, for St Patrick's Day.
• Friday, April 14 to Monday, April 17: four days, for Good Friday and Easter Monday.
• Saturday, April 29 to Monday, May 1: three days, for Early May Bank Holiday.
• Saturday, May 27 to Monday, May 29: three days, for Spring Bank Holiday.
• Saturday, August 26 to Monday, August 28: three days, for Summer Bank Holiday.
• Saturday, December 23 to Tuesday, December 26: four days, for Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Midweek holidays in 2028

A Wednesday holiday strands nothing but cuts the week into two short runs of two days each. Northern Ireland's 2028 count has one: Battle of the Boyne on Wednesday, July 12.

Northern Ireland month by month, 2028

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.

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 2028

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 2028 it runs from Tuesday, August 29 to Friday, December 22 in the second half of the year: 84 working days, 16 full working weeks and four days.

The first working day of 2028 on this count is Tuesday, January 4, after New Year's Day (observed). The last is Friday, December 29, which is the latest date a count of working days can end on inside 2028.

Which calendar the 2028 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 2028 the two lists differ on two weekdays.