About datetime.uk

datetime.uk is an independent website that answers date and time questions for people in the UK: today's date, the time elsewhere, bank holidays, week numbers, countdowns and calculators.

Who runs the site

datetime.uk is written, edited and published by datetime.uk. The site is hosted on Cloudflare. You can reach the editor at contact@datetime.uk.

How the dates are worked out

Almost everything is calculated in your browser when the page loads, by one small script. Nothing is fetched from another server, so the answers appear straight away and keep working if your connection drops.

• UK time uses the Europe/London zone from the IANA time zone database, which your browser keeps up to date. The clock change dates follow the Summer Time Order 2002: 1am GMT on the last Sunday of March and October.
• Bank holidays are computed from the rules that set them, including substitute days and Easter, and checked against the official GOV.UK list. One-off holidays, such as a coronation, are added by hand when they are announced.
• Week numbers follow ISO 8601: weeks start on Monday, and week 1 is the week with the year's first Thursday. See the week number page.
• Countdowns count calendar days in UK time to midnight at the start of the day, so the figure changes at midnight in London, wherever you are.

Every page also includes the answer as plain text, correct on the day it was last updated, so it still makes sense with JavaScript switched off.

How facts are checked

Dates that can't be calculated, such as festivals set by the moon, firework rules or release dates, are checked against a primary source before they are published. Dates that are not yet officially confirmed are labelled "expected", and reports that have not come from the company involved are labelled "rumour".

Main sources:

• GOV.UK, for bank holidays, clock changes and other rules
• The Royal Observatory Greenwich and HM Nautical Almanac Office, for solstices and astronomical times
• The IANA time zone database, for time zones and daylight saving rules worldwide
• The NHS, for health-related timings
• HMRC, for tax year dates and deadlines
• JCQ and the exam boards, for exam dates
• Publishers and platform holders, for release dates

Found a mistake?

If a date, time or rule looks wrong, please tell us. Send the page address and what you expected to see to contact@datetime.uk; the contact page lists what to include. Corrections are made as quickly as possible. How your data is handled, including our use of Google Analytics, is set out in the privacy notice.