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Key dates
Key dates for restaurants, pubs and small hotels: November 2026 to December 2027
For owners and managers of restaurants, pubs and small hotels. These are the licensing notice deadlines, bank holidays, tips payment dates and April pay changes between October 2026 and December 2027. Licensing and bank holiday dates are for England and Wales.
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November 2026
Last working day to give a standard event notice for Saturday 12 December
A Temporary Event Notice must reach the council 10 clear working days before the event and costs £21. After this date only a late notice is left, and a single objection ends a late notice. Who: Licensed premises in England and Wales
Source: Licensing Act 2003, section 100A; GOV.UK, Temporary Events Notice
Tips and service charges taken in October must be paid to staff
All qualifying tips must reach workers in full by the end of the month after the month they were received. Paying quarterly, or when the service charge account is reconciled, breaks the rule. Who: Any employer whose staff receive tips
Source: Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 and statutory code of practice
December 2026
Last working day to give a standard event notice for Friday 18 December
For a party running past the licence hours on the Friday a week before Christmas Day, the 10 clear working days are Friday 4 December to Thursday 17 December. The fee is £21. Who: Licensed premises in England and Wales
Source: Licensing Act 2003, section 100A; GOV.UK, Temporary Events Notice
Last working day to give a standard event notice for Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is Thursday 24 December 2026. The 10 clear working days run from Thursday 10 December to Wednesday 23 December, so the notice must be with the council on the Wednesday before. Who: Licensed premises in England and Wales
Source: Licensing Act 2003, section 100A; GOV.UK, Temporary Events Notice
Last working day to give a standard event notice for New Year's Eve
Christmas Day and the bank holiday on Monday 28 December are not working days, so the notice for Thursday 31 December has to be in 17 days before the event. Who: Licensed premises in England and Wales
Source: Licensing Act 2003, sections 100A and 193; GOV.UK, Temporary Events Notice
Last working day to give a late event notice for New Year's Eve
A late notice can be given between 9 and 5 clear working days before the event. If the police or environmental health object to a late notice it is not valid and the event cannot go ahead. Who: Licensed premises in England and Wales
Source: Licensing Act 2003, section 100A; GOV.UK, Temporary Events Notice
Christmas Day bank holiday (a Friday)
Bank holidays do not have to be given as paid leave, and extra pay depends on the contract. An employer that shuts and wants the day taken as holiday must say so in the contract or give notice. Who: Employers in England and Wales
Source: GOV.UK, UK bank holidays and Holiday entitlement; Acas, Bank holidays and Christmas
Bank holiday: the substitute day for Boxing Day
Boxing Day 2026 is a Saturday, so the bank holiday is the Monday. A contract that pays extra on bank holidays covers this Monday, on a plain reading, and not Saturday 26 December. Who: Employers in England and Wales
Source: GOV.UK, UK bank holidays
Microsoft's first-year offer price on the Copilot Business add-on closes
Microsoft's UK pricing page showed £13.80 a user a month paid yearly, before VAT, against £16.10 before the offer. The offer covers the first year only and needs an eligible Microsoft 365 business plan. Who: Venues that use Microsoft 365
Source: Microsoft 365 Copilot UK pricing page, read 1 October 2026
January 2027
Comes round every year
Temporary event limits start again: 15 notices and 21 days for the new year
The limits on notices and days for one premises run by calendar year. A New Year's Eve event that ends on 1 January uses one notice and one day from each year. The day is also a bank holiday. Who: Licensed premises in England and Wales
Source: Licensing Act 2003, section 107
Tips and service charges taken in December must be paid to staff
The end of the following month is a Sunday, so a venue that pays by bank transfer should send the money by Friday 29 January 2027. No deduction is allowed except tax. Who: Any employer whose staff receive tips
Source: Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023; statutory code of practice, paragraph 33
March 2027
Good Friday bank holiday; Easter Monday is 29 March
Good Friday and bank holidays are not working days when you count the 10 clear working days for a Temporary Event Notice, so an Easter weekend event needs its notice earlier than usual. Who: Licensed premises in England and Wales
Source: GOV.UK, UK bank holidays (England and Wales), read 1 October 2026; Licensing Act 2003, section 193
April 2027
Comes round every year
National Living Wage and minimum wage rates change
GOV.UK says the rates change on 1 April every year. The rate until then is £12.71 an hour for staff aged 21 and over. Check every rate on the rota against the new figures before the first April payroll. Who: All employers
Source: GOV.UK, National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates, read 1 October 2026
Comes round every year
Last day the 2026 to 2027 employer National Insurance figures apply
GOV.UK gives the 2026 to 2027 rates and thresholds for employers as applying from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027. Re-work the all-in cost of the rota when the next year's figures are published. Who: All employers
Source: GOV.UK, Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027, read 1 October 2026
May 2027
Early May bank holiday
Whether staff work the day is up to the employer, and a worker who works it must still get the full 5.6 weeks of paid holiday. Check which days each contract's bank holiday clause pays extra. Who: Employers in England and Wales
Source: GOV.UK, UK bank holidays (England and Wales), read 1 October 2026; Acas, Bank holidays and Christmas
Spring bank holiday
A bank holiday Monday is not a working day for notice counts, so a Temporary Event Notice for the days after it must be given a day earlier than a plain count of ten weekdays suggests. Who: Licensed premises in England and Wales
Source: GOV.UK, UK bank holidays (England and Wales), read 1 October 2026; Licensing Act 2003, section 193
August 2027
Summer bank holiday
Bank holidays do not have to be given as paid leave and can count towards the 5.6 weeks. A worker who does not usually work Mondays cannot be made to use holiday for the day. Who: Employers in England and Wales
Source: GOV.UK, UK bank holidays (England and Wales), read 1 October 2026; GOV.UK, Holiday entitlement; Acas, Bank holidays and Christmas
December 2027
Bank holiday: substitute for Christmas Day; Tuesday 28 December for Boxing Day
In 2027 Christmas Day is a Saturday and Boxing Day a Sunday, so both bank holidays move to the Monday and Tuesday. Read each contract to see whether extra pay follows the named day or the bank holiday. Who: Employers in England and Wales
Source: GOV.UK, UK bank holidays (England and Wales), read 1 October 2026
Dates can move. We checked each one on the date shown at the top of this page; check the source before you rely on a date for something that matters.
AEO Lookup editorial team
We write practical guides for people who run small UK firms, and we check every fact against its source on the date shown. Read how we review, or tell us if something has changed.