New Year's Day

New Year's Day became a bank holiday in England, Wales and Scotland under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971; Northern Ireland under separate legislation. Globally, 1 January has been the start of the calendar year since Julius Caesar's reform in 45 BC.

UK celebrations are headlined by Edinburgh's Hogmanay (30 December – 1 January) — one of the world's largest New Year celebrations. Its street party, the Loony Dook (cold-water swimming in the Firth of Forth on 1 January), concerts, and fireworks attract around 150,000 people to Edinburgh city centre. London's New Year's Eve fireworks on the Thames — with ticketed viewing along the Embankment — are broadcast globally each year.

Scotland has historically had a stronger New Year tradition than England and Wales, largely because Christmas was less significant in the Presbyterian tradition. Where English families once focused their winter celebrations on Christmas, Scots directed their festivities toward the New Year — a cultural difference that persists today.

New Year's Day is fixed on 1 January. When 1 January falls on a Saturday, the substitute bank holiday is Monday 3 January. When it falls on a Sunday, the substitute is Monday 2 January. In Scotland, if 1 January's Mondayisation falls on 2 January, the 2 January bank holiday moves to Tuesday 3 January.

New Year's Day is a bank holiday across all of the United Kingdom — England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland — on 1 January.

Scotland additionally observes 2 January as a bank holiday (see the separate 2nd January entry). When 1 January falls on a Sunday, the substitute bank holiday is Monday 2 January throughout the UK.

Under the Employment Rights Act 1996 and Working Time Regulations 1998, workers whose contracts include bank holidays are entitled to a paid day off on New Year's Day. There is no statutory right to a day off if your contract does not specify bank holidays — this depends entirely on your employment contract.

There is no statutory requirement for enhanced pay (such as time-and-a-half or double time) if you work on a bank holiday. Any enhanced pay is a matter of your contract, not law. Workers who work on a bank holiday that would otherwise have been part of their leave entitlement may be entitled to a day in lieu — again, subject to contract.

Edinburgh Hogmanay is the centrepiece of Scottish New Year — a multi-day festival culminating on 31 December and running into 1 January. Auld Lang Syne, sung at midnight worldwide, was written by Scottish poet Robert Burns and published in 1788.

First footing is a Scottish tradition in which the first person to cross a neighbour's threshold after midnight brings gifts — traditionally coal (for warmth), shortbread, salt, and whisky — to bring luck for the coming year. A tall, dark-haired man is considered the luckiest first foot.

The Loony Dook sees brave (or foolhardy) participants plunge into the cold waters of the Firth of Forth and other locations across Scotland on 1 January. Events now take place across Scotland and raise money for charity.

New Year's resolutions — the tradition of committing to personal improvements — are widely observed, though equally widely abandoned by February.