Why UK gets one less bank holiday in 2024 than last year – dates for Easter, summer and Christmas

The UK is to get one less bank holiday than we did last year and two fewer than the year before. We will all remember Saturday, May 6, last year – King Charles II’s coronation. But as the celebrations were on a weekend, the extra bank holiday we were all given fell on Monday, May 8.

It wasn’t the only year in recent times where we’ve had an extra bank holiday. Many of us will remember 2022 where we got an extra day as Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee fell on Friday, June 3.

Then just over three months later, on Monday, September 19, the nation was given an extra day off as we laid our late sovereign to rest. But 2024 is back to normal with the usual Easter and May double bank holidays giving us a flurry of days off – or at least extra pay if we do work them – in the spring before there’s a big gap for the next one in August.

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2024 bank holiday dates

• New Year’s Day – January 1

• Good Friday – March 29

• Easter Monday – April 1

• Early May Bank Holiday – May 6

• Spring Bank Holiday – May 27

• Summer Bank Holiday – August 26

• Christmas Day – December 25

• Boxing Day – December 26

Why do we have bank holidays?

They date back over 150 years to when banks and other places of finance would take days off. As time progressed, schools and the government began jumping on the bandwagon, and they are now taken by the entire nation.

However, it tends not to apply to those working in hospitality, retail, and hospitals for example. As a result, those working bank holidays will be given their day off on a separate date, or paid extra for working them.

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