UK Bank Holidays Explained: Why England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Differ | 英国的银行假日：英格兰、苏格兰等地休假规定为何不同

2026-10-15 08:16 · 本文部分内容由AI辅助创作

📚 UK Bank Holidays Explained: Why England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Differ | 英国的银行假日：英格兰、苏格兰等地休假规定为何不同

The United Kingdom looks like a single country on a map, yet a worker in London, a shopkeeper in Glasgow and a civil servant in Belfast do not share the same list of days off. Bank holidays are set by law, not by a single national custom, and the law has always treated England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland separately. This article explains where bank holidays come from, what each nation gets in 2025, and the historical, religious and constitutional reasons behind the differences - a topic that links neatly to A-Level Law, Politics, Business and UK society papers.

在地图上，英国看起来是一个统一的国家，但伦敦的上班族、格拉斯哥的店主和贝尔法斯特的公务员，并不享有完全相同的休假日期。银行假日是由法律规定的，而不是由某一种全国统一的习俗决定的，而法律从一开始就把英格兰、威尔士、苏格兰和北爱尔兰分开处理。本文将说明银行假日的由来、2025 年各地分别放哪些假，以及这些差异背后的历史、宗教与宪制原因——这一话题与 A-Level 的法律、政治、商业及英国社会类课程联系紧密。

1. What Exactly Is a Bank Holiday? | 银行假日究竟是什么？

A bank holiday is a day appointed by law on which banks and financial institutions close and normal banking business is not transacted. The term is legal and technical rather than generous: it does not automatically mean that schools, shops, factories or offices must shut, and it does not guarantee any individual employee a paid day off.

银行假日是指由法律指定的、银行与金融机构停止营业、不办理正常银行业务的日子。这个词是法律与技术意义上的称呼，而不是一种福利承诺：它并不自动意味着学校、商店、工厂或办公室必须关门，也不保证任何一位雇员一定能在当天带薪休息。

The name comes from the nineteenth century. The Bank Holidays Act 1871, promoted by the banker and MP Sir John Lubbock, named the first statutory bank holidays in England, Wales and Ireland (four days) and in Scotland (five days). Because banks closed on those days, no bills could be cleared, and commerce across the country effectively paused - which is exactly why the dates had to be identical within each legal jurisdiction.

这个名称来自 19 世纪。由银行家兼议员约翰·卢伯克爵士推动的 1871 年《银行假日法》，首次为英格兰、威尔士和爱尔兰规定了四个法定银行假日，为苏格兰规定了五个。由于银行在这些日子关门，票据无法清算，全国商业实际上随之停摆——这正是各地日期必须在同一法域内保持一致的原因。

Note the word jurisdiction rather than country. From the very first statute, Parliament wrote separate lists for England and Wales, for Scotland, and for Ireland. Today the same three-column structure survives in Schedule 1 of the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, which is still the main statute in force.

请注意这里的关键词是"法域"而不是"国家"。从第一部 statute 开始，议会就为英格兰和威尔士、苏格兰以及爱尔兰分别列出清单。今天，同样的"三栏结构"仍然保留在仍在生效的主要法律——1971 年《银行与金融交易法》附表 1 之中。

2. The Legal Framework: 1871, 1971 and Royal Proclamation | 法律框架：1871 年、1971 年与皇家公告

The 1871 Act was extended in 1875 to add Easter Monday, and it survived for a century. It was replaced by the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, which simplified the rules and, crucially, gave the Crown a power to appoint extra bank holidays - and substitute days - by royal proclamation.

1871 年的法律在 1875 年得到扩充，增加了复活节星期一，并沿用了整整一个世纪。它随后被 1971 年《银行与金融交易法》取代。新法简化了规则，更关键的是，它赋予王室通过皇家公告增设银行假日以及设置替代假日的权力。

That proclamation power explains almost every change since 1971: New Year's Day became a bank holiday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1974; the May Day bank holiday arrived in 1978; and one-off holidays were granted for the Millennium (31 December 1999), the Golden Jubilee (2002), the Royal Wedding (2011), the Diamond Jubilee (2012), the Platinum Jubilee (2022), the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II (19 September 2022) and the Coronation of King Charles III (8 May 2023).

这一公告权几乎解释了 1971 年以来的所有变化：元旦于 1974 年成为英格兰、威尔士和北爱尔兰的银行假日；五朔节银行假日于 1978 年设立；此外还曾为千禧年（1999 年 12 月 31 日）、金禧（2002 年）、王室婚礼（2011 年）、钻禧（2012 年）、白金禧（2022 年）、伊丽莎白二世女王国葬（2022 年 9 月 19 日）以及查尔斯三世加冕（2023 年 5 月 8 日）设立一次性假日。

Constitutionally, bank holidays are largely a reserved matter: the core list is set at UK level rather than by the Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru or the Northern Ireland Assembly. That said, the Scottish Parliament did legislate in 2007 to place St Andrew's Day in the Scottish list, which shows the boundary is not completely rigid.

从宪制角度看，银行假日在很大程度上属于"保留事项"：核心清单由英国中央层级设定，而非由苏格兰议会、威尔士议会或北爱尔兰议会决定。不过，苏格兰议会确实在 2007 年通过立法，把圣安德鲁日列入苏格兰的清单，这说明边界并非完全僵硬。

3. The 2025 Calendar at a Glance | 2025 年假日日历一览

The table below shows the 2025 position. Tick marks indicate a bank holiday in that jurisdiction; the summer holiday is placed on different dates in Scotland and in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

下表展示 2025 年的情况。打勾表示该法域当天为银行假日；夏季假日的时间在苏格兰与英格兰、威尔士及北爱尔兰之间有所不同。

Holiday 假日	England & Wales 英格兰和威尔士	Scotland 苏格兰	Northern Ireland 北爱尔兰
New Year's Day (1 Jan) 元旦	✓	✓	✓
2 January 1 月 2 日	✗	✓	✗
St Patrick's Day (17 Mar) 圣帕特里克节	✗	✗	✓
Good Friday (18 Apr) 耶稣受难日	✓	✓	✓
Easter Monday (21 Apr) 复活节星期一	✓	✗	✓
Early May (5 May) 五月初	✓	✓	✓
Spring bank holiday (26 May) 春季假日	✓	✓	✓
Battle of the Boyne (14 Jul) 博因河战役纪念日	✗	✗	✓
Summer bank holiday 夏季假日	last Mon in Aug 8 月最后一个周一	first Mon in Aug 8 月第一个周一	last Mon in Aug 8 月最后一个周一
St Andrew's Day (1 Dec substitute) 圣安德鲁日	✗	✓	✗
Christmas Day (25 Dec) 圣诞节	✓	✓	✓
Boxing Day (26 Dec) 节礼日	✓	✓	✓
Total 合计	8	9	10

Two details in the table deserve attention. First, St Andrew's Day 2025 falls on a Sunday, so the substitute holiday is Monday 1 December. Second, 12 July 2025 is a Saturday, so Northern Ireland takes the substitute day on Monday 14 July.

表中的两个细节值得注意。第一，2025 年的圣安德鲁日恰逢周日，因此替代假日是 12 月 1 日星期一。第二，2025 年 7 月 12 日是周六，所以北爱尔兰把替代假日安排在 7 月 14 日星期一。

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4. England and Wales: Eight Standard Holidays | 英格兰和威尔士：八个标准假日

England and Wales form a single legal jurisdiction for this purpose, and they receive the same eight bank holidays: New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, the early May bank holiday, the spring bank holiday, the summer bank holiday on the last Monday in August, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

在这一问题上，英格兰和威尔士构成同一个法域，两者享有相同的八个银行假日：元旦、耶稣受难日、复活节星期一、五月初假日、春季假日、8 月最后一个星期一的夏季假日、圣诞节和节礼日。

Three of these are movable rather than fixed. Good Friday and Easter Monday follow the lunar calculation of Easter, and the early May and spring bank holidays are defined as the first and last Mondays of May respectively. Only Christmas, Boxing Day and New Year's Day are tied to calendar dates.

其中三个假日是浮动的而非固定的。耶稣受难日和复活节星期一依照复活节的阴历计算，五月初与春季假日则分别被定义为五月的第一个和最后一个星期一。只有圣诞节、节礼日和元旦与具体日历日期绑定。

The most conspicuous absence is a patron saint's day. England has no bank holiday for St George's Day on 23 April, and Wales has none for St David's Day on 1 March, even though Scotland and Northern Ireland both enjoy a national saint's day off.

最显眼的空缺是守护圣徒日。英格兰在 4 月 23 日圣乔治日没有银行假日，威尔士在 3 月 1 日圣大卫日也没有，而苏格兰和北爱尔兰却都享有各自民族圣徒日的假日。

5. Scotland: Nine Holidays and Two January Days | 苏格兰：九个假日与两个一月的日子

Scotland's list differs in four ways. It adds 2 January, it omits Easter Monday, it places the summer bank holiday on the first Monday in August instead of the last, and it includes St Andrew's Day on 30 November, with a substitute Monday if that date falls at a weekend.

苏格兰的清单有四处不同：增加了 1 月 2 日；取消了复活节星期一；把夏季假日放在 8 月的第一个星期一而非最后一个星期一；并把 11 月 30 日圣安德鲁日纳入其中，若该日落在周末则顺延至下一个星期一。

The second of January is unique in the UK and reflects the Scottish New Year tradition of Hogmanay. Because 1 January is spent celebrating and 2 January is spent recovering, the two days operate as a pair. In some Scottish cities the practical effect is a two-day shutdown of shops, offices and public transport.

1 月 2 日在全英独一无二，它反映了苏格兰的除夕传统（Hogmanay）。由于 1 月 1 日用于庆祝、1 月 2 日用于恢复，这两天实际上成对运作。在苏格兰一些城市，实际效果是商店、办公室和公共交通连续两天停摆。

Scotland also has a distinctive system of local holidays, which are not bank holidays at all but customary trade holidays set by individual councils and employers. Examples include the Glasgow Fair in mid-July, the Paisley Fair and the Edinburgh trades holiday. This means a Scottish town can be unusually quiet in July for reasons that never appear on a national list.

苏格兰还有一套独特的"地方假日"制度。它们完全不是银行假日，而是由各地方议会和雇主自行设定的传统行业假日，例如 7 月中旬的格拉斯哥集市假、佩斯利集市假和爱丁堡行业假日。这意味着某个苏格兰城镇可能在 7 月异常冷清，其原因却从未出现在任何全国性清单上。