British Summer Time

British Summer Time
Time zone
UTC offset
UTCUTC+01:00
Current time
08:05, 29 March 2024 GMT [refresh]
Observance of DST
This time zone is only used for DST. For the rest of the year, GMT is used.
Time in Europe:
Light Blue Western European Time / Greenwich Mean Time (UTC)
Blue Western European Time / Greenwich Mean Time (UTC)
Western European Summer Time / British Summer Time / Irish Standard Time (UTC+1)
Red Central European Time (UTC+1)
Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)
Yellow Eastern European Time / Kaliningrad Time (UTC+2)
Ochre Eastern European Time (UTC+2)
Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+3)
Green Moscow Time / Turkey Time (UTC+3)
Turquoise Armenia Time / Azerbaijan Time / Georgia Time / Samara Time (UTC+4)
 Pale colours: Standard time observed all year
 Dark colours: Summer time observed

During British Summer Time (BST), civil time in the United Kingdom is advanced one hour forward of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), in effect changing the time zone from UTC±00:00 to UTC+01:00, so that mornings have one hour less daylight, and evenings one hour more.[1][2]

BST begins at 01:00 GMT every year on the last Sunday of March and ends at 01:00 GMT (02:00 BST) on the last Sunday of October. The starting and finishing times of daylight saving were aligned across the European Union on 22 October 1995, and the UK retained this alignment after it left the EU;[3] both BST and Central European Summer Time begin and end on the same Sundays at 02:00 Central European Time, 01:00 GMT. Between 1972 and 1995, the BST period was defined as "beginning at two o'clock, Greenwich mean time, in the morning of the day after the third Saturday in March or, if that day is Easter Day, the day after the second Saturday in March, and ending at two o'clock, Greenwich mean time, in the morning of the day after the fourth Saturday in October."[4][5]

The following table lists recent-past and near-future start and end dates of British Summer Time:[6]

Year Start End
2021 28 March 31 October
2022 27 March 30 October
2023 26 March 29 October
2024 31 March 27 October
2025 30 March 26 October
2026 29 March 25 October
2027 28 March 31 October
  1. ^ Text of the Summer Time Act 1972 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.
  2. ^ Text of the Interpretation Act 1978 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.
  3. ^ "Summer Time Dates". National Physical Laboratory. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  4. ^ "British Summer Time". Archived from the original on 5 August 2014. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
  5. ^ "Summer Time Act 1972 ss enacted". Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  6. ^ "When Do the Clocks Change?", Gov.uk. Retrieved 21 October 2014.