Count clear days the way CPR 2.8 does — weekends and every England & Wales bank holiday excluded where the period is five days or less — or count calendar days, and see which days were skipped and why.
Fourteen days to acknowledge service, twenty-eight to file a defence where an acknowledgment was filed, three clear days before a hearing to file a witness statement: type the period the rule gives you and the calculator returns the last day, counting clear days under CPR 2.8 and stepping over every weekend and bank holiday. The answer updates as you type.
| Period | Last day |
|---|---|
| Three clear days (e.g. serving an application notice, CPR 23.7) | Wed 30 Sep 2026 |
| Five clear days (a short period — weekends and bank holidays skipped, CPR 2.8(4)) | Fri 2 Oct 2026 |
| Seven clear days (e.g. notice of a directions hearing, CPR 29.3) | Sun 4 Oct 2026 * |
| Fourteen clear days (e.g. acknowledgment of service, CPR 10.3) | Sun 11 Oct 2026 * |
| Twenty-one clear days (e.g. the Part 36 relevant period) | Sun 18 Oct 2026 * |
| Twenty-eight clear days (e.g. defence after an acknowledgment, CPR 15.4) | Sun 25 Oct 2026 * |
| Forty-two clear days (e.g. notice of appeal to the EAT) | Sun 8 Nov 2026 * |
| Fifty-six clear days (e.g. return of a directions questionnaire, CPR 26.3) | Sun 22 Nov 2026 * |
Per the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 and the annual proclamation, including the substitute days when a holiday falls at the weekend. These are the days a short CPR period skips.
| Date | Holiday |
|---|---|
| Thu 1 Jan 2026 | New Year’s Day |
| Fri 3 Apr 2026 | Good Friday |
| Mon 6 Apr 2026 | Easter Monday |
| Mon 4 May 2026 | Early May bank holiday |
| Mon 25 May 2026 | Spring bank holiday |
| Mon 31 Aug 2026 | Summer bank holiday |
| Fri 25 Dec 2026 | Christmas Day |
| Mon 28 Dec 2026 | Boxing Day (substitute day) |
Under CPR 2.8 a period expressed in days is counted in clear days: the day on which the period begins is excluded, as is the day of the event the period runs to. Where the period is five days or less, Saturdays, Sundays, bank holidays, Christmas Day and Good Friday are not counted either (CPR 2.8(4)).
No. The day of the trigger is excluded and the last day of the period is included. Where the period ends on a day the court office is closed and the act is one to be done at the court office, CPR 2.8(5) allows it to be done on the next day the office is open.
The permanent England & Wales bank holidays under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971: New Year’s Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, the early May and spring bank holidays, the summer bank holiday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, with the substitute day where one falls at a weekend. One-off bank holidays announced for a particular year cannot be known in advance.
The counting here follows the Civil Procedure Rules. The Employment Tribunals count calendar days and months (three months less one day for most claims), and the Family Procedure Rules have their own provisions. Check the rule you are working under and switch to calendar days where it counts that way.
It is a working aid built on the published rules, not legal advice. Confirm any deadline that matters against the rule itself, the practice direction and any order of the court, and diarise it with a margin. Solicitors using SolicitorOS get the same calculator inside the diary, with the date one click from the matter.
Court deadlines are unforgiving and the count is easy to get wrong. A listed litigation solicitor can take the file, confirm the date and act in time.
Find a litigation solicitorCalculate from the matter, add the date in one click, and let the limitation register and the Monday court list watch the rest.