Yes, most small businesses close for at least some of it. Offices, agencies, trades, building sites and factories tend to shut from Christmas Eve until the first working day in January. Shops, pubs, care and anything else customer-facing usually stay open. This year there are only three normal working days between Christmas and New Year (29, 30 and 31 December), so if you've ever fancied closing, 2026 is a good year to try it.
We get asked this a fair bit, usually by owners who are secretly hoping the answer is "everyone closes" so they can justify doing it. It's a bit more mixed than that if we're honest. But if your customers go quiet over Christmas, you're in very good company if you shut the doors.
How many UK businesses close over Christmas?
Most close for at least a day and roughly a third close for a few days or more. There isn't an official figure though (we looked) so the best numbers come from business surveys. Here they are, with who asked and when, so you can make your own mind up:
| What they found | Who and when |
|---|---|
| More than 4 in 5 small business owners close for at least a day over Christmas. Almost a third close for 3 to 5 days. Only 19% stay fully open. | Kaspersky, 500 UK small business owners, reported December 2025 |
| 45% of small business owners planned to take just three days off between 22 December and 1 January, and 59% said they'd be working on Christmas Day (mostly emails and admin). | ANNA Money, UK SME owners, December 2023 |
| Around 472,000 small business owners worked every day over Christmas and New Year. 34% said they couldn't afford the time off; 17% didn't have the staff to cover. | Opinium for Bizdaq, 2016 (older, but still the most quoted figure) |
In case you're wondering why we haven't quoted the government - the ONS does run a regular business survey, but it's done in early December when about 94% of businesses are trading as normal. It doesn't look at the week between Christmas and New Year at all. Which is a bit odd, but there you go.
What jumps out to us is that the business often closes but the owner often doesn't. Plenty of us shut up shop for the team and then end up at the kitchen table answering emails on the 29th. Guilty.
How long do businesses close for at Christmas?
The most common one is from Christmas Eve (often from lunchtime) to the first working day in January. In England and Wales this year that means closing on Thursday 24 December and opening back up on Monday 4 January - eleven days off for three and a half days of holiday. Not bad.
| Option | Closed | Holiday days it uses (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Bank holidays only | Fri 25 Dec, Mon 28 Dec, Fri 1 Jan | None |
| Christmas to New Year | Fri 25 Dec to Sun 3 Jan | 3 (29, 30, 31 Dec) |
| Christmas Eve lunchtime to New Year | Thu 24 Dec (pm) to Sun 3 Jan | 3.5 |
| Two full weeks | Mon 21 Dec to Sun 3 Jan | 7 |
If you're in Scotland, 2 January is a bank holiday too. It's a Saturday in 2027 so Monday 4 January is the day off instead, and you'd reopen on the Tuesday. We've put all the dates in Christmas bank holidays 2026.
Which businesses stay open over Christmas?
Anything customer-facing or round-the-clock stays open. Most office-based and business-to-business work closes. Very roughly:
- Shops, pubs, restaurants, hotels, care homes, the emergency trades (your plumbers, locksmiths and boiler people), delivery firms and anyone on an IT support contract will usually be open.
- Offices, agencies, accountants, solicitors, recruiters, building sites, factories and most non-emergency trades will usually be shut.
- Then there's the awkward middle - a small online shop, an IT firm with a few clients who might ring. They tend to run a skeleton crew or keep one person on call with the phone.
The only bit that's actually law: big shops in England and Wales (over 280 square metres) can't open on Christmas Day. Smaller ones can.
Should my business close over Christmas?
Close if your customers are closed. Stay open if they're not. For most of us it really is that simple. Have a look at last year's emails, calls or orders for 27 to 31 December - if it was a trickle, close. If it was a normal week, don't.
- Mostly sell to other businesses
- Had a dead week last year
- Want everyone off at once, no rota
- Hate refereeing who gets the 29th
- Are happy to give a few days' notice now
- Sell to the public
- Get a sales spike after Boxing Day
- Have contracts that need cover
- Would lose customers to a rival
- Can run on a small crew
The best thing about closing never seems to make the pros and cons lists. It kills the Christmas leave argument dead. Nobody's fighting over the same days because everyone's got them. If you're staying open you'll need a fair way of deciding who gets Christmas off, and you'll want that sorted by November.
When we close, we book the whole team off in one go with a group booking in Book Time Off - same dates, everyone, done - and if plans change it's one click to cancel. The UK bank holidays come from the GOV.UK feed and never come off anyone's allowance, so 25 and 28 December and 1 January are already there. Everyone can see their days left straight away, so nobody gets a surprise in January.
→ Book your Christmas closure · start free trialDo staff have to use holiday if we close?
Yes, you can make staff use holiday for a Christmas closure as long as you tell them early enough - at least twice as long before as the closure itself. So three days closed needs six days' notice, though you'd be mad to leave it that late.
You don't have to take it out of holiday, mind. Some owners give the days between Christmas and New Year on top, as a thank you. Staff really do remember that one. It just costs more (see below). Whichever you go for, say it in October - we've got a Christmas closure email you can copy.
We've covered the details, including what to do about people who've run out of holiday, in can I make staff take holiday at Christmas? and the Christmas shutdown policy template.
What does closing for Christmas cost?
If the closed days come out of holiday, closing doesn't cost you anything extra in wages - people were always going to take those days at some point. The real cost is any trade you miss. If you give the days on top, that's a few days' pay per person.
Quick example: 10 staff on £30,000 a year cost roughly £115 a day each. Gifting them 29, 30 and 31 December comes to about £3,500. Taking those days from holiday instead costs nothing extra in wages. Put your own numbers into the Christmas shutdown cost calculator to see both options side by side.
Staying open is fine, as long as you're not short on the one day that matters. In Book Time Off you can block dates for the whole company (the last Saturday before Christmas, say) so nobody can book them, and set how many people can be off at once in each department - once a team's full, it's full. It isn't a rota tool and won't plan your shifts, we should say. But it does mean the leave side of Christmas can't catch you out.
→ Start free trialOur take
If you can close, close. For most small office-based teams, shutting from Christmas Eve lunchtime to the first working day in January is the right call - it's fair, it's simple and people come back in January properly rested instead of half-dead. This year it only uses three and a half days of holiday.
If you can't close, don't feel bad about it. Run a small crew, decide how many can be off, get the rules out in October and stick to them. What we'd avoid is the in-between - "we'll probably close, let's see" - because that's exactly when everyone makes their own assumptions. We've learnt that one the hard way.
The legal bit, if you need it
You don't need this to get Christmas sorted, but here's what the rules actually say if anyone asks.
- There's no legal requirement to close over Christmas, and no legal right for staff to have Christmas Day or any bank holiday off. Whether bank holidays are paid days off depends on the contract (ACAS).
- You can tell staff to take holiday for a closure. ACAS says give at least twice as many calendar days' notice as the closure; GOV.UK says twice plus one day. Twice plus a day covers both (ACAS, GOV.UK).
- Unpaid closures need the contract to allow it, or the staff member to agree. Otherwise, not paying them is likely to be an unlawful deduction from wages (GOV.UK).
- Large shops can't open on Christmas Day in England and Wales under the Christmas Day (Trading) Act 2004 (legislation.gov.uk).
Sources
| Kaspersky via TechRound | Kaspersky survey of 500 UK small business owners · Reported 5 December 2025. Commercial survey, not official statistics. |
| ANNA Money via Business Matters | Over half of SME owners working on Christmas Day · December 2023. Commercial survey. |
| Bizdaq via TaxAssist | Half a million SME owners opting to work over Christmas · Opinium for Bizdaq, 2016. Commercial survey. |
| ONS | Business insights and impact on the UK economy: 19 December 2024 · Early December trading status. Checked October 2026. |
| GOV.UK | UK bank holidays · Christmas 2026 and Scotland's 2 January substitute. Checked October 2026. |
| ACAS | Asking for and taking holiday · Notice for requiring holiday on set dates. Checked October 2026. |
| legislation.gov.uk | Christmas Day (Trading) Act 2004 · Large shops closed on Christmas Day. Checked October 2026. |
FAQs
This is practical, general information for UK employers. If you've got a dispute brewing or something unusual in a contract, talk to ACAS (it's free) or an employment solicitor.