For the third year running, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day don’t fall on weekends and there are no substitute days. However, Scotland has a substitute day for St Andrews.
England and Wales
So when are the Christmas and New Year Bank holidays? For England Wales and Northern Ireland matches:
Scotland
In Scotland there are variations and an alternate day applies for St Andrew’s day which would normally be on Sunday 30th November 2025 along an extended New Year celebration:
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland aligns more closely to England and Wales with the exception of St Patrick’s day:
Do Bank holidays have to be paid?
Bank or public holidays do not have to be given as paid leave.
The Working Time Regulation 13a states that for regular hours workers, an employer can choose to include bank holidays as part of the statutory minimum of a worker’s statutory annual leave of 5.6 paid weeks (capped at 28 days annually).
But what about irregular workers with the new hours worked accrual. If Christmas is to be taken as paid leave, then employees may have to claim an appropriate use of their hours that have been accrued.
And then the irregular hours workers with Rolled-Up Holiday paid each period, well. They have already had any holiday pay due in advance. The actual leave dates may not be paid anything in addition,
Some employers may contractually provide additional bank holiday pay entitlements as well as increased entitlements above statutory minimums. The contract may state which days are specifically included such as Christmas Day and New Years. Christmas Day 2025 is an official bank holiday and so is New Year’s Day 2026 as they both fall on a Thursday.
Employers may need to decide what policies they implement and communicate with their employees and workers about paid bank holidays and the Christmas and New Year season.
Guidance for employers on Real Time Information reporting obligations for payments made early at Christmas
The HMRC annually remind HMRC employers of the permanent easement on reporting PAYE-information in real time which has been in place since 2019.
Some employers need to pay their employees earlier than usual in December. This can be for several reasons, such as businesses closing during the festive period and needing to pay workers earlier than normal. This is to remind you of the permanent easement on reporting RTI (Real Time Information) that applies during this time.
If you do pay early over the Christmas period, you must report your normal or contractual payment date on your Full Payment Submission (FPS).
For example: if you pay on 20th December but your normal payment date is 31st December, please report the payment date as 31st December. In this example the FPS would need to be sent on or before 31st December.
Doing this will help to protect your employees’ eligibility for income-based benefits such as Universal Credit, as an early payment could affect current and future entitlements.
The Christmas Universal Credit payment shock!
Where employers don’t ensure that they report the regular payment date across Christmas but report the earlier actual payment date, employers can be inundated with shocked employee calls as they see their UC assessment period include more payment than usual impacting the benefits they receive. And the following period the DWP take a view that they have not been paid at all or have earn less. this is because UC is assessed monthly based on the calendar day they originally applied for benefits. Fluctuating payment dates can cause your UC employees devastation, something to be avoided at this Christmas time.
Having to work Christmas and New Year?
ACAS have guidance on employment rights for those working during the Christmas season, for the PAYadvice.UK article and links see:
PAYadvice.UK 4/9/2025