The clocks will go back an hour next month, marking the end of daylight saving time in the UK – here’s everything you need to know
One extra hour in bed is on the horizon(Image: Getty)
As we transition away from summer and head towards the winter months, the days are growing increasingly shorter and dark evenings are beginning to set in.
Mornings are brisk and fresh, evenings are closing in ever earlier and temperatures are gradually starting to fall.
Alongside the cooler weather, another seasonal change is just around the corner — the end of daylight saving time. For many, this provokes mixed emotions.
On the positive side, we gain an extra hour in bed when the clocks go back — a welcome bonus, particularly as the mornings become chillier. On the negative side, earlier sunsets mean lengthier evenings spent indoors and darker journeys home.
This year, the clocks will go back a day earlier than in 2025. While they fell on Sunday, October 26 last year, in 2026 they will move back an hour at 2am on Sunday, October 25, marking the end of daylight saving time, reports the Irish Mirror.
One handy way of recalling which direction the clocks will change is — “spring forward, fall back”. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter here.
Moving forward, clocks will spring forward next year on Sunday, March 28, 2027, and fall back on Sunday, October 31, 2027 – maintaining the established seasonal pattern.
Most contemporary devices, including smartphones and smartwatches, will update automatically at 2am on Sunday, resetting to 1am. Traditional clocks, however, will need to be adjusted manually.
This long-standing tradition of changing the clocks, commonly referred to as “falling back,” was introduced to make greater use of natural daylight. The change means that mornings will be brighter, allowing for an additional hour of daylight, however, it also means that darkness will descend earlier in the evening.
According to timeanddate.com, the sun will set today (September 6) at 8.02pm, though the evenings will draw in progressively, with sunset occurring at 7.04pm by Wednesday, September 30, before dropping to 5.07pm on Sunday, October 25 – when the clocks go back.
All EU member states change their clocks at this point, with Iceland standing alone as the exception, staying on Western European Time throughout the year.
In 2019, the European Union voted on possibly abolishing Daylight Saving Time completely after 2021, following research indicating most people would rather avoid changing clocks twice annually. Nevertheless, this decision was postponed owing to the Covid pandemic.
