Free Staff Holiday Planner Guide: UK Bank Holidays 2027 and Annual Leave Calculator

Planning next year's staff holidays for a small business, shop, salon or team? This free guide has the 2027 bank holidays for each part of the UK, a simple way to work out everyone's allowance (including part-time staff and new starters), a paper planner layout you can set up in ten minutes, and a checklist to run through before you say yes to a request.

UK bank holidays 2027

England and Wales (8 days)

• Friday 1 January: New Year's Day
• Friday 26 March: Good Friday
• Monday 29 March: Easter Monday
• Monday 3 May: early May bank holiday
• Monday 31 May: spring bank holiday
• Monday 30 August: summer bank holiday
• Monday 27 December: Christmas Day (substitute day, as 25 December is a Saturday)
• Tuesday 28 December: Boxing Day (substitute day)

Scotland (9 days): 1 January, Monday 4 January (substitute for 2 January, a Saturday), Good Friday 26 March, 3 May, 31 May, Monday 2 August (summer bank holiday), Tuesday 30 November (St Andrew's Day), 27 December and 28 December. Easter Monday is not a bank holiday in Scotland.

Northern Ireland (10 days): the eight England and Wales dates, plus Wednesday 17 March (St Patrick's Day) and Monday 12 July (Battle of the Boyne).

Dates follow the usual rules. The government sometimes adds or moves a day for a special event, so check GOV.UK before you finalise your rota.

How to work out annual leave

• The legal minimum for most workers is 5.6 weeks a year, capped at 28 days. Someone working 5 days a week gets 28 days.
• Bank holidays can count towards it. You can include bank holidays in the 28 days or give them on top. In England and Wales in 2027, a 5-day worker on 28 days including bank holidays has 20 days left to book.
• Part-time staff: multiply the days they work each week by 5.6. Three days a week is 3 × 5.6 = 16.8 days.
• Starting or leaving during the year: give a share of the year. A full-timer on 28 days who starts on 1 July in a January to December leave year gets about half: 14 days.
• Bank holidays and part-timers: if someone does not work Mondays, most Monday bank holidays will not fall on their days. If bank holidays come out of their allowance, only count the ones that land on days they work, so they are not short-changed.
• Irregular hours or term-time workers have different rules. Check the current GOV.UK holiday guidance for them.

A simple paper planner layout

1. Take one sheet per month. Write the dates 1 to 31 across the top.
2. List your staff down the left side, one row each.
3. Shade weekends and bank holidays grey first, so nobody books them by mistake.
4. Use a key: H for holiday, ½ for half day, S for sick, ? for requested but not yet approved.
5. Add a row at the bottom that counts how many people are off each day. Decide your limit (for example, no more than 2 off at once) and circle any day that goes over.
6. Keep a small table on the back: each person's allowance, days taken, days booked and days left.

Checklist before you approve a request

• Does the person have enough days left after their booked leave?
• Would it take you over your limit for people off at once?
• Is anyone with the same key skill already off that week?
• Are there any busy days, events or stocktakes in that week?
• Have you answered within a reasonable time and written it down?
• Have you checked who still has a lot of leave left, so nobody ends up with a pile of days in the last month?

How to use this guide

• Set your leave year first (January, April or a start date) and stick to it for everyone.
• Put the bank holidays in before you take any requests.
• Work out each person's allowance once at the start of the year and write it on their row.
• Share the month sheets where staff can see them, so people can spot clashes before they ask.

This is a planning guide, not legal or HR advice.