Scotland Bank Holidays 2025

Scotland's bank holidays under the 1971 Act, in 2025

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 2025 30 November is a Sunday, so St Andrew's Day moves to Monday, December 1. 2 January is a Thursday and needs no substitute.

Easter Monday (Monday, April 21) and the last Monday in August (Monday, August 25) 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 4.

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.

Why 2025 gives Scotland 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. 2025 runs 365 days, 52 whole weeks and one day over. It opens and closes on a Wednesday, so the spare day is a weekday and the year holds 261 of them.

Nine bank holidays in this page's count fall on weekdays, so Scotland has 252 working days in 2025. That is one fewer than 2024 (253). The holidays cost the same number of weekdays both years; the difference is the calendar itself, which supplies one fewer weekday. 2026 falls to 251.

Substitute bank holidays in 2025

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 2025:

• St Andrew's Day falls on Sunday, November 30, and gov.uk lists Monday, December 1 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 2025

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 2025, Scotland's additions on a weekday are 2nd January on Thursday, January 2, Summer Bank Holiday on Monday, August 4, and St Andrew's Day (observed) on Monday, December 1. Easter Monday on Monday, April 21 and Summer Bank Holiday on Monday, August 25 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: 252 against 253.

Where the fixed-date holidays land in 2025

A holiday tied to a calendar date moves one weekday later each year, and two once 29 February has passed. 2025 follows a leap year, so January and February dates move two weekdays against 2024 and everything later moves one:

• New Year's Day is a Wednesday in 2025, after a Monday in 2024, so on this page's count it is one of two days off in a row, Wednesday, January 1 to Thursday, January 2.
• 2nd January is a Thursday in 2025, after a Tuesday in 2024, so on this page's count it is one of two days off in a row, Wednesday, January 1 to Thursday, January 2.
• St Andrew's Day is a Sunday in 2025, after a Saturday in 2024, 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 Thursday in 2025, after a Wednesday in 2024, so on this page's count it is one of four days off in a row, Thursday, December 25 to Sunday, December 28.
• Boxing Day is a Friday in 2025, after a Thursday in 2024, so on this page's count it is one of four days off in a row, Thursday, December 25 to Sunday, December 28.

Long weekends and four-day breaks in Scotland, 2025

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 six such breaks in 2025:

• Friday, April 18 to Sunday, April 20: three days, for Good Friday.
• Saturday, May 3 to Monday, May 5: three days, for Early May Bank Holiday.
• Saturday, May 24 to Monday, May 26: three days, for Spring Bank Holiday.
• Saturday, August 2 to Monday, August 4: three days, for Summer Bank Holiday.
• Saturday, November 29 to Monday, December 1: three days, for St Andrew's Day (observed).
• Thursday, December 25 to Sunday, December 28: four days, for Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Bridge days and midweek breaks in 2025

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. 2025 has both kinds. The stranded day is Friday, January 3, next to 2nd January.

The midweek closure is New Year's Day on Wednesday, January 1. 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, 2025

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 Scotland's own calendar changes.

Where Scotland counts longest without a break in 2025

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 2025 it runs from Tuesday, August 5 to Friday, November 28 in the second half of the year: 84 working days, 16 full working weeks and four days.

The first working day of 2025 on this count is Friday, January 3, after New Year's Day and 2nd January. The last is Wednesday, December 31, which is the latest date a count of working days can end on inside 2025.

Which calendar the 2025 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 2025 the two lists differ on five weekdays.