Date Duration Calculator

UK Bank Holidays 2025 & 2026 (England & Wales)

These dates are excluded from working day calculations above. Scotland and Northern Ireland may differ.

How to Calculate Days Between Two Dates

Calculating the number of days between two dates is a surprisingly common task — whether you're working out a notice period, planning a project deadline, counting down to an event, or figuring out how many working days fall within a contract period. Our date duration calculator handles all of this instantly, giving you results in multiple formats.

Calendar Days vs Working Days

There are two ways to count days between dates. Calendar days counts every single day, including weekends and bank holidays — this is the straightforward mathematical difference. Working days (also called business days) counts only Monday to Friday, excluding UK bank holidays. Working days matter for employment contracts, payment terms, legal deadlines, and planning work schedules.

For example, if a contract says you must give 14 calendar days' notice, that means exactly 14 days from the notice date regardless of weekends. If it says 14 working days, weekends and bank holidays do not count, and the effective period is around three weeks.

Understanding the Duration Breakdown

Our calculator shows the date difference in several ways so you can use whichever is most useful:

• Total days — the simple count of calendar days between the two dates
• Weeks and days — e.g. 6 weeks and 3 days (total days ÷ 7)
• Months and days — useful for rental periods or subscription lengths
• Years, months and days — the most human-readable format for longer periods
• Working days — Mon–Fri, excluding UK bank holidays for England & Wales

Adding or Subtracting Days From a Date

The second tab lets you calculate a future or past date by adding or subtracting a number of days. This is particularly useful for working out when a deadline falls, when a subscription renews, or when a cooling-off period ends. You can choose between calendar days (simple arithmetic) and working days (skipping weekends and bank holidays), and the result will show the day of the week so you immediately know if you land on a Monday or a Friday.

UK Bank Holidays and How They Affect Working Days

In England and Wales, there are typically 8 bank holidays per year. When calculating working days for employment, court deadlines, or business processes, these must be excluded along with weekends. The specific dates matter: Good Friday and Easter Monday change each year based on the ecclesiastical calendar, while the May bank holiday and Summer bank holiday fall on specific Mondays. Our calculator includes the confirmed dates for both 2025 and 2026.

Note that Scotland has different bank holidays, including 2 January (New Year's Day holiday), St Andrew's Day, and different Easter arrangements. Northern Ireland also has additional holidays including St Patrick's Day and Battle of the Boyne. If you need precise working day calculations for these regions, adjust accordingly.

Common Uses for a Date Duration Calculator

• Employment notice periods — how many working days from resignation to last day
• Mortgage and loan deadlines — cooling-off periods, completion dates
• Tenancy agreements — notice periods in calendar or working days
• Project planning — how many working days until a deadline
• Legal deadlines — court filing dates, statutory time limits
• Holiday allowance — checking how many working days you've taken
• Countdowns — how many days until a birthday, anniversary, or event
• Invoicing and payment terms — 30-day, 60-day payment periods

How Months Are Calculated

Months are not all the same length — they range from 28 days (February in non-leap years) to 31 days (January, March, May, July, August, October, December). When we say "3 months and 5 days" the month count is calculated by moving calendar months forward from the start date, then counting remaining days. This matches how banks and employers typically count periods measured in months.

Frequently Asked Questions