Annual leave and bank holidays in Northern Ireland

The legal minimum in Northern Ireland is 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave, which is 28 days for someone working five days a week. Employers can count bank and public holidays inside that figure. Northern Ireland has 10 bank and public holidays, including St Patrick’s Day on 17 March and the 12 July holiday, but you have no legal right to take them off, and public sector employers set their own leave on top.

Statutory annual leave

The 5.6 weeks work like this. Multiply the days you work in a week by 5.6, so a four-day week gives 22.4 days. Part-time workers get the same entitlement pro rata. nidirect also says that if full-timers are given extra days off, part-timers should get a proportional share, even when the extra day is not one of their usual working days. Holiday entitlement for part-time workers has worked examples.

Holiday builds up from your first day. Your employer decides when you can take it, and you are paid your normal pay while you are off. When a job ends, unused holiday is paid out. Entitlement keeps building during maternity, paternity and adoption leave. For shift workers, nidirect’s example is 5.6 weeks multiplied by 3.5 twelve-hour shifts, which gives 19.6 shifts.

Casual and irregular-hours workers get paid time off for every hour worked, and agency workers are covered by the statutory minimum as well. The GB rules for leave are on holiday entitlement in the UK, and the 5.6 week figure is the same on both sides of the Irish Sea.

The 10 bank and public holidays

The holidays in Northern Ireland are these: New Year’s Day, St Patrick’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, the early May bank holiday, the spring bank holiday, the 12 July holiday (the Battle of the Boyne, or Orangemen’s Day), the summer bank holiday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. England and Wales have eight, so the two extras here are 17 March and 12 July.

When a date lands on a Saturday or Sunday, the substitute day is normally the following Monday. These are the gov.uk dates for 2027.

Holiday	Date in 2027
New Year’s Day	Friday 1 January
St Patrick’s Day	Wednesday 17 March
Good Friday	Friday 26 March
Easter Monday	Monday 29 March
Early May bank holiday	Monday 3 May
Spring bank holiday	Monday 31 May
Battle of the Boyne	Monday 12 July
Summer bank holiday	Monday 30 August
Christmas Day (substitute)	Monday 27 December
Boxing Day (substitute)	Tuesday 28 December

In 2028 St Patrick’s Day falls on Friday 17 March and the 12 July holiday on Wednesday 12 July. The gov.uk page lists dates for the following years too.

No legal right to the day off

You have no legal right to paid leave on bank and public holidays, though many people get the day off. Any right to time off or extra pay for working on one depends on your contract of employment. A paid bank holiday your employer gives you can count towards your 5.6 weeks, and working on one does not by itself mean enhanced pay.

If you work in a shop, a hospital ward, a care home or a depot, you may be rostered on 17 March or 12 July like any other day. Look in your contract for a premium rate or time off in lieu. Do you get bank holidays off? covers the general rules.

How public sector employers add to it

Most public sector contracts give more than the legal minimum, and the amounts differ by employer. Some figures from employers’ own pages:

• HSC trusts give full-time staff 27 days on entry, 29 after five years and 33 after ten, plus 10 statutory and public holidays a year. The HSC list for 2026 includes Easter Tuesday, which is not on the gov.uk bank holiday list.
• Belfast City Council gives 24 days at the minimum, 29 after five years and 32 after ten, plus 12 days of extra statutory, bank and public holiday entitlement, on a 37-hour week. Its leave year starts on 1 April.
• Newry, Mourne and Down District Council gives 24 days, rising to 31 after 10 years, plus 13 public holidays.

The same job title can therefore carry different leave, and the public holiday count is not always 10. Part-time staff in these employers get leave pro rata, usually calculated in hours. Teachers and school support staff have their own arrangements, tied to school terms, so see term-time-only work if you work in a school.

Checking your own entitlement

Your written statement of employment particulars should set out your leave, and whether public holidays are included. If it is unclear, ask HR which holidays count and what the leave year dates are. Disputes over leave pay can go to your union or the Labour Relations Agency’s Workplace Information Service on 03300 555 300. The wider differences from Great Britain are in how employment law in Northern Ireland differs.