Is the Scottish summer bank holiday on the same day?

No. Scotland keeps the first Monday in August under paragraph 2 of the same Schedule, so in 2026 it falls on 3 August rather than 31 August.

When is the Late Summer Bank Holiday in 2026 and 2027?

Monday 31 August 2026, then Monday 30 August 2027. The date is the last Monday in August, so it moves each year.

Late Summer Bank Holiday

Next celebratedMonday, August 30, 2027

Banks and many businesses close on the last Monday in August in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar. Scotland's statutory bank holiday is the first Monday of the month instead.

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Last updated September 6, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar TeamHave an update or spot an error?

YEARLY DATELast Monday in August

OBSERVED INInternationally

CATEGORYFederal

ORIGIN

Enacted Law

FOUNDING ENTITY

The Parliament of the United Kingdom

FIRST OBSERVED

1971

HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

A two-year traffic experiment that was never reversed.

Parliament wrote the last Monday in August into Schedule 1 of the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 for England and Wales and for Northern Ireland, leaving Scotland on the first Monday, the statutory date there since the Bank Holidays Act 1871. The later date had already been kept since 1965, after Edward Heath announced a two year experiment on 4 March 1964 on the ground that it could help extend the holiday season and avoid congestion.

Read Schedule 1 of the Actvia The National Archives

INTRO

A single official label sits on two different Mondays

Ask when the August bank holiday falls and the United Kingdom gives two answers. Its official bank holiday list calls the last Monday in August the Summer bank holiday in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland, and gives Scotland's first Monday in August the same name. The Late Summer Bank Holiday is the later of the two.

In 2026 the Scottish date is Monday 3 August. Everywhere else in the United Kingdom it is Monday 31 August.

The two Mondays are not even a fixed distance apart. Counted across the 101 years from 1972 to 2072, they sit 21 days apart in 58 of them and 28 days apart in the rest.

That gap is not Scotland clinging to an older date on its own. The Bank Holidays Act 1871 gave England, Ireland and Scotland the first Monday in August alike. England and Wales were the ones who left, in 1965, and they never went back.

GOOD TO KNOW

Late Summer Bank Holiday Around the World

England and Wales

Schedule 1 of the 1971 Act lists the last Monday in August for England and Wales, alongside Easter Monday and the last Monday in May.

Northern Ireland

The same Schedule gives Northern Ireland the last Monday in August, in a paragraph that also carries 17 March and Easter Monday.

Guernsey, with Herm and Jethou

The States of Guernsey say every public holiday is prescribed by the Public Holidays Ordinance, 2009, whose list includes the last Monday in August. They label it Summer bank holiday.

Jersey

The Government of Jersey publishes a Summer Bank Holiday on 31 August 2026, and on 30 August 2027.

Isle of Man

The Manx list for 2026 carries Monday 31 August as the Summer Bank Holiday, beside the TT and Tynwald Day bank holidays.

Gibraltar

HM Government of Gibraltar's published schedule reads Late Summer Bank Holiday, Monday 31st August. It is the only official calendar checked here that uses that exact name.

Philippines

The same Monday is National Heroes Day, a regular holiday set at Last Monday of August by Republic Act No. 9492. It is an unrelated observance that lands on the same date.

Scotland

Scotland's statutory summer bank holiday is the first Monday in August, under paragraph 2 of the same Schedule.

Republic of Ireland

The Second Schedule to the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 puts the Republic's August public holiday on the first Monday, so the island of Ireland keeps two different August holidays.

ORIGINS

Late Summer Bank Holiday history

INTRODUCTION

Before 1871, English common law recognised only two days, apart from Sundays, on which the banks did not do business: Good Friday and Christmas Day. Lord Drumalbyn set that out a century on, opening the 1971 Bill.

The Act that changed it was written for bankers, not holidaymakers. Its first practical effect was that a bill of exchange falling due on a bank holiday became payable the next day.

CHAPTER 01

A bankers' statute the country took over

Sir John Lubbock piloted the Bill through the Commons at 37, to what Lord Airedale later called "the most extraordinary and tremendous public acclamation". On the first anniversary, Airedale told the Lords in 1964, the Daily News wrote that "this statute holiday gives a day in the fresh summer air".

The schedule he carried gave England and Ireland the first Monday in August, and Scotland the first Monday of August: one date for the whole United Kingdom.

CHAPTER 02

A traffic problem, not a seasonal one

In May 1962 Commander Kerans asked the Commons whether the August Bank Holiday was "really nonsense in this modern age", given "this vast number of cars on the road". A Mr Lubbock, the Member for Orpington, was in the House.

The Board of Trade laid a White Paper, Staggered Holidays, before Parliament in July 1963. On 4 March 1964 Edward Heath told the Commons that a fixed spring holiday and a later August one "could make a worthwhile contribution" to extending the holiday season and easing "congestion for holiday-makers at peak holiday times".

It was announced for two years only, 1965 and 1966, under an Order that Drumalbyn told the Lords was "not subject to Parliamentary procedure".

CHAPTER 03

Scotland moved, then moved back

Scotland's banks agreed to shift too. Drumalbyn told the Duke of Atholl the change touched Scottish bank holidays only, because public holidays there were already separate. By 1971 the banks had gone back to the first Mondays in May and August, Terence Higgins told the Commons, "to meet the wishes of Scottish bank interests".

CHAPTER 04

Six years of trial, then a statute

By November 1971 Higgins could tell the Commons that "the experiment has now continued for about six years", and that the time had come to fix both dates "on a permanent basis". Schedule 1 did that for England and Wales and for Northern Ireland, and restated Scotland's first Monday.

TIMELINE

Timeline

The first Bank Holidays Act passes

Royal assent on 25 May made the first Monday in August a bank holiday in England, Ireland and Scotland alike.

Heath announces a later date

On 4 March the President of the Board of Trade told the Commons the August Bank Holiday would fall on the last Monday for 1965 and 1966.

The last Monday is kept

The new date was observed for the first time, under an Order that was not subject to parliamentary procedure.

Schedule 1 fixes the date

The Banking and Financial Dealings Act put the last Monday in August in statute for England and Wales and for Northern Ireland.

Scotland gains 2 January

The new Scottish bank holiday took effect, bringing Scottish banks up to six days.

Ireland writes down the first Monday

The Organisation of Working Time Act listed the first Monday in August among the Republic's public holidays, not the last.

go now among the watch-making trades in Clerkenwell, and you will not find one workshop that does not keep St. Lubbock's Day

J. RowlandsMP for Finsbury East, House of Commons, 20 March 1891

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why Late Summer Bank Holiday Matters

STATUTE

Three days out of eight. The rest are proclaimed or common law.

GOV.UK lists eight bank holidays for England and Wales in 2026, and exactly three of them are days Schedule 1 specifies: Easter Monday, the last Monday in May and the last Monday in August. New Year's Day and the early May holiday are appointed by royal proclamation, Good Friday and Christmas Day are common law holidays the Schedule never mentions, and 28 December is a proclaimed substitute.

DIVERGENCE

Scotland's list is the more statutory one

Seven of Scotland's ten bank holidays in 2026 are named in Schedule 1, against four of Northern Ireland's ten. Scotland's paragraph carries no last Monday in May, so its spring bank holiday is proclaimed rather than statutory.

CROWN

The proclamation power is still in use

Section 1(3) of the 1971 Act lets the Crown appoint a special bank holiday by proclamation, and it is not a historical relic. One given at Buckingham Palace on 3 February 2026 appointed Monday 15 June a bank holiday in Scotland, to mark the men's football team competing at the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 28 years.

MYTH VS FACT

Common Misconceptions

The myth

The last Monday in August replaced Whit Monday.

The truth

The Monday in Whitsun week was the spring bank holiday in the 1871 schedule, and the last Monday in May is what replaced it. The August holiday moved from the first Monday in August to the last.

The myth

A bank holiday is a legal right to a paid day off.

The truth

nidirect, Northern Ireland's official portal, states: You don't have a legal right to paid leave on bank and public holidays, though many people get the day off work.

The myth

The law calls the day the Late Summer Bank Holiday.

The truth

Schedule 1 to the 1971 Act is headed Bank Holidays and lists dates only, giving no holiday a name, and the 1871 schedule named none either. The label is administrative and popular usage: HM Government of Gibraltar's published schedule uses it, and so do the UK and Northern Ireland civil service holiday lists set out in the Lords in November 2003.

GET INVOLVED

How to Observe Late Summer Bank Holiday

Compare the three official bank holiday lists

The GOV.UK feed publishes England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland separately, and offers a machine readable version at the same address. Put the August rows side by side to see which division takes which Monday.

READ

Read the schedule that fixes the date

Schedule 1 to the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 runs to three paragraphs, one for each division. It sits on legislation.gov.uk with its later amendments marked in place.

Follow a bank holiday proclamation in the original

The London Gazette prints each proclamation in full, with the date it was given and the days it appoints. Open the notice for the 2026 bank holidays and read the wording for yourself.

CHECK

Check both August dates before booking across borders

The island of Ireland runs the sharpest version of this: Northern Ireland's bank holiday is the last Monday in August, and the Republic's public holiday is the first. Confirm which list applies where you are travelling before you fix a date.

LEARN

Learn the difference between bank and public holidays

The Northern Ireland portal nidirect defines a bank holiday as a day when banks and many other businesses are closed, and a public holiday as one observed through custom and practice. Read it before assuming the two labels mean the same thing.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know Late Summer Bank Holiday?

1 / 8

Which Monday in August is a statutory bank holiday in Scotland?

Answer

Yes, though the label differs by jurisdiction. It is a bank holiday in England and Wales and in Northern Ireland under Schedule 1 to the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, a public holiday in Guernsey under the Public Holidays Ordinance, 2009, and a bank holiday on the published schedules of Jersey, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar.

COLOPHON

Sources

How we know what’s on this page. References, not endorsements.

22sources

22primary records

17independently dated

legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives)1971

Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, Schedule 1

The three per nation lists of statutory bank holiday dates, amendments marked.

Late Summer Bank Holiday

Enacted Law

A two-year traffic experiment that was never reversed.

England and Wales

Northern Ireland

Guernsey, with Herm and Jethou

Jersey

Isle of Man

Gibraltar

Philippines

Scotland

Republic of Ireland

A bankers' statute the country took over

A traffic problem, not a seasonal one

Scotland moved, then moved back

Six years of trial, then a statute

The first Bank Holidays Act passes

Heath announces a later date

The last Monday is kept

Schedule 1 fixes the date

Scotland gains 2 January

Ireland writes down the first Monday

Scotland's list is the more statutory one

The proclamation power is still in use

Compare the three official bank holiday lists

Read the schedule that fixes the date

Follow a bank holiday proclamation in the original

Check both August dates before booking across borders

Learn the difference between bank and public holidays

How well do you know Late Summer Bank Holiday?

Which Monday in August is a statutory bank holiday in Scotland?

Is the Late Summer Bank Holiday a public holiday?

Is the Scottish summer bank holiday on the same day?

When is the Late Summer Bank Holiday in 2026 and 2027?

Related holidays

Summer Bank Holiday (England and Wales)

Spring Bank Holiday

Early May Bank Holiday

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