Public Holidays for 2026

1 September 2025

Updated list of public holidays for 2026

Monday 15 June 2026 has officially been confirmed as a national bank holiday to mark Scotland’s participation in the men's football World Cup finals.  This holiday was proposed by First Minister John Swinney to allow people, businesses and other organisations in Scotland to celebrate after the team’s opening game against Haiti.

The JNC met on 12th February and discussed the additional bank holiday for the World Cup and has agreed that this would be added to the EVH public holiday list; however, it as the discretion of each individual Governing Body in full member organisations whether to honour it.  The updated public holiday lists are now attached.  These lists  provide details of our suggested dates for public holidays for 2026.  There are two lists, one runs from January to December and the other list runs from April to March.  Full Member organisations are of course free to change the exact dates to suit local trade holiday patterns.  Associate Members will have their own arrangements, but are free to use our list as a guide.

You will notice that the public holidays for Easter in 2027 are falling at the end of March instead of in April.  For those members operating the holiday year from 1 April to 31 March this means that the holiday year 2026 to 2027 will have 17 public holidays rather than the standard 15.  Subsequently the year after, 2027 to 2028, will have 13 public holidays rather than the standard 15.  This has been discussed with UNITE who agree with this approach.  If any employee has concerns about this managers should consider alternatives on a case by case basis and seek advice if necessary.