When Do the Clocks Change in the UK in 2026?

·Published: 8 August 2026

The next UK clock change is on Sunday 25 October 2026, when British Summer Time ends. At 2:00 am BST, the clocks go back to 1:00 am GMT, so the hour from 1:00 am to 2:00 am happens twice. You gain an hour overnight, mornings become lighter by the clock, and darkness arrives earlier in the afternoon. The following spring change will be on Sunday 28 March 2027, when 1:00 am becomes 2:00 am.

When the clocks go forward and back

The UK follows a fixed annual rule rather than choosing separate dates each year. The clocks go forward on the last Sunday in March: at 1:00 am GMT, local time jumps directly to 2:00 am BST. They go back on the last Sunday in October: at 2:00 am BST, local time returns to 1:00 am GMT. This change happens simultaneously across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The familiar memory aid is spring forward, fall back. Here, “fall” is the American word for autumn, but the phrase remains widely understood in Britain. In March, imagine the clock springing ahead over an hour: times between 1:00 am and 1:59 am never occur locally. In October, the clock moves backwards and repeats that hour. An event recorded simply as 1:30 am on the October changeover morning can therefore be ambiguous unless its time zone is also shown.

What GMT and BST mean

GMT means Greenwich Mean Time. It is the UK's standard time during the part of the year between the October and March changes. BST means British Summer Time and runs one hour ahead of GMT. A London appointment at 8:00 am in winter is therefore 8:00 am GMT; the same clock reading in July is 8:00 am BST. BST does not create extra daylight. Moving the clock merely shifts how daylight lines up with school, work and leisure hours.

After the March change, sunrise and sunset both appear one hour later on the clock than they otherwise would. That produces darker early mornings and lighter evenings. After the October change, the reverse happens: someone catching an early train may see more morning light, while the walk home becomes darker sooner. The amount of daylight still depends on the season and where you live. Glasgow and London, for example, experience noticeably different winter day lengths even though their clocks change together.

What happens to phone and browser alarms

Most phones update automatically when their date, time and time-zone settings use network information. A phone alarm set for 7:00 am will normally ring when the updated clock reaches 7:00 am. Check that the device is set to the UK time zone rather than a fixed offset, particularly after travel. Traditional clocks, some car displays, oven clocks and central-heating timers may need changing by hand. Transport departure times remain local clock times, so an 8:12 am train is still shown as 8:12 am after the switch.

A browser alarm has different limits. It relies on the browser, tab and device continuing to run; it will not sound if the tab is closed or the device is asleep. Browsers may also delay activity in a background tab. During the repeated October hour, an alarm page may interpret a typed time according to its own timer logic or the operating system's changing clock. For anything that must wake you, keep the tab open, prevent sleep and use a device alarm as a separate safeguard.

Why Britain changes the clocks

William Willett promoted the idea of moving clocks forward to make greater use of summer daylight in his 1907 pamphlet The Waste of Daylight. Parliament rejected several early proposals, but Britain introduced summer time in 1916 during the First World War, when conserving fuel formed part of the case for changing daily schedules. The central idea was to align more waking hours with daylight. Arguments have continued ever since because later evening light can suit some routines while darker mornings create difficulties for others.

Did the EU abolish clock changes?

No. The European Commission proposed ending seasonal clock changes in 2018, and the European Parliament supported the proposal in 2019. It did not become an agreed EU-wide rule because the Council did not reach a common position; the legislative file was still recorded as blocked in 2026. The UK had already voted to leave the EU before that proposal, so even an EU agreement would not itself determine British time. Unless the UK government changes the law, the practical rule here remains simple: forward on the last Sunday in March and back on the last Sunday in October.