Overview
- Easter weekend runs from Good Friday on April 3 to Easter Monday on April 6, with Easter Sunday on April 5.
- England and Wales bank holidays for 2026 include Easter Monday (6 April), Early May (4 May), Spring (25 May), Summer (31 August), Christmas Day (25 December) and a Boxing Day substitute (28 December).
- Northern Ireland adds St Patrick’s Day on 17 March and the Battle of the Boyne on 13 July, while Scotland observes a summer bank holiday on 3 August and St Andrew’s Day on 30 November.
- Easter’s timing is a movable feast based on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21, a system fixed by the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325.
- Easter 2026 falls 15 days earlier than in 2025, with schools widely expected to break around March 27 and return around April 13, and no extra UK-wide bank holiday anticipated for 2026.