UK Christmas Holidays 2026: Dates, School & Bank Holidays

The Christmas holidays in the UK run for roughly two weeks across late December and early January, when schools close, the bank holidays land, and most of the country slows down to enjoy the festive season. For the 2026/2027 school year that break starts on Monday 21 December 2026, with pupils heading back in the first week of January 2027. Below you will find the exact dates for every nation, the bank holidays to plan around, and a few cosy ideas for filling those precious days off.

When are the Christmas holidays in the UK for 2026?

School term dates are set by local councils, so they vary slightly from one area to the next, but the pattern is the same right across the UK: schools break up in the final full week before Christmas and return in the first week of January. Here is the general picture for the 2026/2027 academic year.

• England and Wales: break up around Monday 21 December 2026, return Monday 4 or Tuesday 5 January 2027.
• Scotland: break up around Monday 21 December 2026, return Tuesday 5 January 2027.
• Northern Ireland: break up around Monday 21 December 2026, return early January 2027.

Because exact dates differ by council, the safest way to confirm your child's term dates is the official GOV.UK school term dates finder, which points you straight to your local authority. As a rule of thumb, though, you can count on about a fortnight off.

How long are the Christmas holidays?

For schools, the Christmas break is almost always two weeks, give or take a day depending on which weekday Christmas falls on. In 2026 the timing is generous, because Christmas Day lands on a Friday, so the break naturally stretches across two full weekends with the festive week tucked neatly in the middle.

For workplaces it is a little different. Most offices stay open between Christmas and New Year, but plenty of people use a few days of annual leave to bridge the gap, the stretch fondly known as Twixmas. With the bank holidays falling where they do in 2026, booking just three days off (29, 30 and 31 December) turns the long weekend at Christmas and the New Year's Day holiday into a continuous ten-day break.

UK bank holidays over Christmas 2026

The Christmas bank holidays are when the country properly downs tools. Because 26 December 2026 falls on a Saturday, the Boxing Day holiday is moved to the following Monday, a quirk worth knowing if you are planning travel or deliveries.

• Christmas Day: Friday 25 December 2026
• Boxing Day (substitute day): Monday 28 December 2026
• New Year's Day: Friday 1 January 2027

England and Wales each have eight bank holidays a year, Scotland has nine and Northern Ireland has ten. You can check the official list any time on the GOV.UK bank holidays page, and there is a fuller history of how these public holidays came to be on Wikipedia.

Making the most of the break at home

Whether you are off for a fortnight or grabbing a few quiet days, the loveliest part of the Christmas holidays is the slower pace at home. This is the season of long film afternoons, a walk to blow away the cobwebs on Boxing Day, board games that run far too late, and a kitchen that never quite stops smelling of cinnamon. A bit of cosy kit makes all of it better, which is exactly where a soft Christmas jumper or a matching set of pyjamas earns its keep.

If the whole family is gathering, coordinating outfits is half the fun. Our matching family Christmas pyjamas keep everyone snug for the morning present-opening, and a Christmas onesie is hard to beat for a lazy Twixmas afternoon on the sofa.

Christmas Jumper Day and the run-up to the break

Before the holidays even start, the festive spirit is already in full swing. Christmas Jumper Day, run by Save the Children, falls in early-to-mid December each year, and it has become a fixture in UK schools and offices alike, with a charity donation in exchange for wearing your woolliest, most cheerful knit. It is the perfect excuse to get your festive jumper out a couple of weeks early.

When do schools go back after Christmas?

Across most of the UK, children return to the classroom in the first week of January 2027, typically Monday 4 or Tuesday 5 January depending on your council and any teacher training (INSET) days. Those INSET days, of which there are usually around five spread across the year, can occasionally nudge the return date by a day, so it is always worth a quick check of your school's calendar before the alarm clocks come back out.

However you spend it, the Christmas holidays are a rare stretch of proper downtime, so settle in, get comfy, and enjoy every slow, twinkly minute of it.