Working Days Calculator
Count working days (Monday to Friday) between two dates — with optional UK bank holiday exclusion.
From 2026-01-05 to 2026-01-30 (inclusive) there are 20 working days — 6 weekend days, out of 26 total.
Results update as you type. Both endpoints are included in the count: Mon to Fri (same week) is 5 working days, not 4. Weekend = Saturday + Sunday; if your jurisdiction treats Friday + Saturday as the weekend, the count needs adjusting.
Formula
The calculator iterates each day in the inclusive range, counts weekdays (Mon–Fri), skips Saturday and Sunday, and subtracts any holiday dates you've listed. Both endpoints are counted: Mon to Fri (same week) is 5 working days, not 4. Weekend "holidays" are ignored — they're already excluded as weekend days.
When this calculator helps
Counting working days rather than calendar days is what most UK business and admin runs on. Reach for this calculator whenever a commitment is framed in business days rather than dates on a wall calendar — a supplier quoting 'delivery within 10 working days', a contract giving you '5 working days to respond', or HR confirming how much annual leave a holiday block will actually use up.
It is built for the everyday planning questions: when does a payment fall due if the invoice says net-30 working days, how many billable days sit in a project sprint, or how much of your leave allowance a fortnight off in August really costs. Because it skips Saturdays and Sundays and lets you paste in the bank holidays that apply to you, it gives a figure that matches how UK working time is genuinely counted.
How to read your result
The headline number is the count of weekdays in your range, inclusive of both the start and end date. So a Monday-to-Friday in the same week returns 5, not 4. If your context uses the 'days between' convention — where you count the gap and not the starting day — subtract one from the result, or use the Days Between Dates Calculator instead.
Compare it against the calendar-day span to see the weekend drag: a 28-day month typically holds around 20 working days, and every bank holiday you paste in trims one more off. The wider the range, the bigger the gap between calendar days and working days, which is exactly why deadlines quoted in working days run noticeably longer than they first appear.
A worked example
Suppose an order is placed on Monday 05/01/2026 with delivery promised within the working days up to 30/01/2026. That span covers 26 calendar days, but only 20 fall on weekdays — the four weekends remove eight days. If you also paste in a bank holiday that lands midweek inside the range, the count drops to 19. That single working-day figure is what you would put in front of a customer, not the 26-day calendar gap.
Common mistakes to avoid
Most working-day miscounts come from holidays and from mixing up the inclusive and exclusive conventions.
- Forgetting to paste in bank holidays — the calculator only subtracts the dates you give it, so a midweek holiday left out will overstate the count by a day.
- Assuming everyone works Monday to Friday — retail, hospitality and healthcare often do not, and a five-day week will under-count their actual working time.
- Using the wrong bank-holiday list for the nation involved — England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland do not share the same dates.
- Treating the result as a 'days between' figure when it is inclusive of both endpoints; subtract one if your contract or rule counts the gap rather than the days.
UK bank holidays to watch
The UK does not have a single national list of bank holidays. England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland each have their own — Scotland keeps 2 January and St Andrew's Day, Northern Ireland adds St Patrick's Day and the Battle of the Boyne, while England and Wales have neither. If your start and end dates sit either side of one of these, the working-day count genuinely differs depending on which nation's calendar applies.
Some dates also move year to year — the early May and spring bank holidays shift, and when Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year's Day fall on a weekend a substitute weekday is given instead. The official lists live on gov.uk; copy the dates that apply to your nation and year into the holidays box so the figure reflects the working days you can actually rely on.
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Frequently asked questions
Are both dates included in the count?▾
Yes — the count is inclusive of both endpoints. Mon to Fri (same week) gives 5 working days. If you want 'days between' (exclusive of one endpoint), subtract 1 — or use the Days Between Dates Calculator, which uses the exclusive convention.
Are bank holidays automatically excluded?▾
No — you need to paste them in. UK bank holidays vary by year (the May spring bank holiday moves) and by country (England + Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland have different lists). gov.uk publishes the official lists; copy the dates you need into the calculator.
What's the UK working week?▾
Monday to Friday in this calculator. Some industries (retail, hospitality, healthcare) work weekends and use different definitions; for a 6-day or 7-day working week, this calculator under-counts. The 'standard' 5-day Mon–Fri convention covers most office and professional work.
Why are weekend 'holidays' ignored?▾
If you paste a holiday date that falls on a weekend, the calculator doesn't count it again — it's already excluded as a weekend day. Many bank holidays don't move when they fall on weekends (Christmas Day on a Saturday is still 25 December), but the working-day impact is zero. Some bank holidays do shift to the next Monday (substitute days), in which case paste the substitute date.
Can I count only weekdays for a notice period?▾
Possibly — but UK contracts typically express notice in calendar weeks/months, not working days. Read your contract carefully; if it says '30 days' or '4 weeks', that's calendar time. Statute or contract sometimes uses 'working days' for shorter notice (e.g. probation termination). When in doubt, ACAS or your union has guidance.
Does this work for legal deadlines?▾
For an approximate count, yes. UK court rules (CPR for civil; Crim PR for criminal) have specific definitions of 'working day' that may include or exclude bank holidays differently. For binding legal deadlines, consult the relevant rule or a solicitor; this calculator gives the conventional Mon–Fri count.