Scotland Bank Holidays 2024
Last reviewed: October 14, 2026 · Holiday data: June 23, 2026
The gov.uk list gives Scotland 9 bank holidays in 2024: 9 fall on a weekday and none on a weekend. That leaves 253 working days in 2024. Like the United Kingdom calculator, this page counts Monday to Friday as working days; what changes is the holiday list.
How Scotland differs from England & Wales
Scotland runs a different bank holiday calendar from England and Wales. It adds 2nd January and St Andrew's Day, takes its Summer Bank Holiday on the first Monday of August rather than the last Monday, and does not observe Easter Monday as a bank holiday. New Year's Day, Good Friday, the Early May and Spring bank holidays, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day are shared with England and Wales. For 2026, gov.uk also lists a World Cup bank holiday on 15 June for Scotland only.
Added in Scotland (2024)
- 2nd January (Tuesday, January 2)
- Summer Bank Holiday (Monday, August 5)
- St Andrew's Day (observed) (Monday, December 2)
Not observed in Scotland (2024)
- Easter Monday (Monday, April 1)
- Summer Bank Holiday (Monday, August 26)
Scotland bank holiday calendar 2024
| Date | Day | Bank holiday |
|---|---|---|
| January 1 | Monday | New Year's Day |
| January 2 | Tuesday | 2nd January |
| March 29 | Friday | Good Friday |
| May 6 | Monday | Early May Bank Holiday |
| May 27 | Monday | Spring Bank Holiday |
| August 5 | Monday | Summer Bank Holiday |
| December 2 | Monday | St Andrew's Day (observed) |
| December 25 | Wednesday | Christmas Day |
| December 26 | Thursday | Boxing Day |
2024 summary
Total days
366
Weekend days
104
Bank holidays on weekdays
9
Working days
253
After subtracting 104 weekend days and 9 weekday-falling bank holidays, Scotland has 253 working days in 2024. The count rests on the gov.uk list for Scotland, not on the England and Wales list.
Scotland in 2024: how the calendar falls
Every figure below is computed from the 2024 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.
Scotland's bank holidays under the 1971 Act, in 2024
Scotland's statutory list is paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971: New Year's Day, 2 January, Good Friday, the first Monday in May, the first Monday in August, 30 November (St Andrew's Day, added by the St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007) and Christmas Day. The Spring bank holiday and Boxing Day are not in that paragraph; gov.uk lists both for Scotland, and section 1(3) is the Act's power to appoint further bank holidays by proclamation.
The Schedule gives each Scottish date its own weekend rule. New Year's Day and 2 January move to 3 January only from a Sunday, Christmas Day moves to 26 December from a Sunday, and St Andrew's Day is the only one that moves from a Saturday as well, to the first Monday after. In 2024 30 November is a Saturday, so St Andrew's Day moves to Monday, December 2. 2 January is a Tuesday and needs no substitute.
Easter Monday (Monday, April 1) and the last Monday in August (Monday, August 26) are bank holidays in England and Wales under paragraph 1 of the Schedule and are not in Scotland's paragraph 2, which has the first Monday in August instead, Monday, August 5.
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 by doing it on the next day on which it can be compelled. The Act does not name that day.
How Scotland's 2024 total is built
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. 2024 is a leap year: 52 whole weeks plus two days, and both spare days are weekdays (a Monday and a Tuesday), which gives it 262 weekdays, the most a year can hold.
Nine bank holidays in this page's count fall on weekdays, so Scotland has 253 working days in 2024. 2025 falls to 252.
Substitute bank holidays in 2024
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 2024:
- St Andrew's Day falls on Saturday, November 30, and gov.uk lists Monday, December 2 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 Scotland's own days cost in 2024
A bank holiday on Scotland'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 Scotland's list puts one back only when it lands on a weekday. In 2024, Scotland's additions on a weekday are 2nd January on Tuesday, January 2, Summer Bank Holiday on Monday, August 5, and St Andrew's Day (observed) on Monday, December 2. Easter Monday on Monday, April 1 and Summer Bank Holiday on Monday, August 26 are on England and Wales and not on Scotland's list, so the count treats them as working days.
The net effect is one fewer working day than England and Wales: 253 against 254.
Where the fixed-date holidays land in 2024
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. 2024 is a leap year, so every date from March onward jumps two weekdays against 2023:
- New Year's Day is a Monday in 2024, after a Sunday in 2023, so on this page's count it is one of four days off in a row, Saturday, December 30, 2023 to Tuesday, January 2.
- 2nd January is a Tuesday in 2024, after a Monday in 2023, so on this page's count it is one of four days off in a row, Saturday, December 30, 2023 to Tuesday, January 2.
- St Andrew's Day is a Saturday in 2024, after a Thursday in 2023, 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 Wednesday in 2024, after a Monday in 2023, so on this page's count it is one of two days off in a row, Wednesday, December 25 to Thursday, December 26.
- Boxing Day is a Thursday in 2024, after a Tuesday in 2023, so on this page's count it is one of two days off in a row, Wednesday, December 25 to Thursday, December 26.
The long weekends of 2024 in Scotland
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, Scotland has five such breaks in 2024:
- Friday, March 29 to Sunday, March 31: three days, for Good Friday.
- Saturday, May 4 to Monday, May 6: three days, for Early May Bank Holiday.
- Saturday, May 25 to Monday, May 27: three days, for Spring Bank Holiday.
- Saturday, August 3 to Monday, August 5: three days, for Summer Bank Holiday.
- Saturday, November 30 to Monday, December 2: three days, for St Andrew's Day (observed).
Bridge days and midweek breaks in 2024
A holiday on a Tuesday or a Thursday strands a single working day between it and the weekend; a Wednesday one splits the week into two short runs instead. 2024 has both kinds. The stranded day is Friday, December 27, next to Boxing Day.
The midweek closure is Christmas Day on Wednesday, December 25. A deadline counted across a Wednesday holiday loses its day in the middle of the week, not at either end, so a count that steps through the week one day at a time has to skip it there.
Scotland month by month, 2024
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 | 22 | New Year's Day (January 1) and 2nd January (January 2) |
| February | 21 | 21 | none |
| March | 20 | 20 | Good Friday (March 29) |
| April | 22 | 21 | none |
| May | 21 | 21 | Early May Bank Holiday (May 6) and Spring Bank Holiday (May 27) |
| June | 20 | 20 | none |
| July | 23 | 23 | none |
| August | 21 | 21 | Summer Bank Holiday (August 5) |
| September | 21 | 21 | none |
| October | 23 | 23 | none |
| November | 21 | 21 | none |
| December | 19 | 20 | St Andrew's Day (observed) (December 2), Christmas Day (December 25), and Boxing Day (December 26) |
The third column counts the same months on England and Wales, so the gap between the two columns is exactly what Scotland's own calendar changes.
Where Scotland counts longest without a break in 2024
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 2024 it runs from Tuesday, August 6 to Friday, November 29 in the second half of the year: 84 working days, 16 full working weeks and four days.
The first working day of 2024 on this count is Wednesday, January 3, after New Year's Day and 2nd January. The last is Tuesday, December 31, which is the latest date a count of working days can end on inside 2024.
Which calendar the 2024 count uses
The count uses the bank holidays gov.uk publishes for Scotland. 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 2024 the two lists differ on five 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.