August bank holiday 2018: When is it, who gets the day off and what other bank holidays do we have in the UK?

Time to find out... 
Georgia Chambers23 August 2018

The summer days are drawing to a close, which means the kids head back to school and the early morning commute to work gets a little darker.

Thankfully, before we have to face September, we've got an August bank holiday to spare.

Whether you're spending the weekend partying at Notting Hill Carnival or just relaxing at home, here's everything you need to know about the August bank holiday:

What is a bank holiday?

A bank holiday essentially means a public holiday. Launched by Liberal politician and banker Sir John Lubbock in 1871, it was introduced as a way of giving workers respite.

It was stated that on four days across the year, people shouldn’t be expected to do what they wouldn’t do on Christmas Day. Now, England has eight bank holidays across the year including Good Friday and Christmas Day and they differ in Ireland and Scotland.

Why is it called a ‘bank’ holiday?

The reason it’s called a bank holiday is because historically it was the day banks closed and that meant nobody else could work - there were no computers back then and business tended only to be able to function when other services were open but don’t highlight that too much to your employer…

Does everyone get a bank holiday?

Under law, employers aren’t obliged to give you bank holidays off so make sure you find out what you’re entitled to before you sign your contract.

When is the August bank holiday?

This year the August bank holiday will fall on Monday 27.

When are the rest of the bank holidays in 2018?

So far we’ve had…

New Year's Day: Monday 1 January

Good Friday: Friday 30 March

Easter Monday: Monday 2 April

Early May bank holiday: Monday 7 May

Late May bank holiday: Monday 28 May

Coming up…

Summer bank holiday: Monday 27 August

Christmas Day: Tuesday 25 December

Boxing Day: Wednesday 26 December

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in