Time ZonesAbout this time zone
All of the United Kingdom keeps one time. Computers and phones know it by the zone name Europe/London. Its time is UTC in January and UTC+1 in July, because the clocks are changed during the year. The short names used for this time are GMT and BST. Compared with India (IST), it is 5 hours 30 minutes behind India in January and 4 hours 30 minutes behind India in July.
Clock changes in 2026 and 2027
United Kingdom changes its clocks during the year. These are the changes for 2026 and 2027, worked out from the rules in the IANA time zone database.
| Clock change (local time) | New offset |
|---|---|
| Sunday 29 March 2026: at 1:00 am clocks go forward 1 hour to 2:00 am | UTC+1 (BST) |
| Sunday 25 October 2026: at 2:00 am clocks go back 1 hour to 1:00 am | UTC (GMT) |
| Sunday 28 March 2027: at 1:00 am clocks go forward 1 hour to 2:00 am | UTC+1 (BST) |
| Sunday 31 October 2027: at 2:00 am clocks go back 1 hour to 1:00 am | UTC (GMT) |
Governments sometimes change these rules at short notice. Check an official source before fixing travel or meetings far ahead.
Counting from those dates, the clocks in United Kingdom stay forward for 210 days, from 29 March 2026 to 25 October 2026. That is about 30 weeks, or 58% of a year, on UTC+1 and the rest on UTC.
Time difference with major cities
| When it is 12:00 noon in United Kingdom, it is | In January 2026 | In July 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| India | 5:30 pm5 hours 30 minutes ahead | 4:30 pm4 hours 30 minutes ahead |
| France | 1:00 pm1 hour ahead | 1:00 pm1 hour ahead |
| New York, United States | 7:00 am5 hours behind | 7:00 am5 hours behind |
| Chicago, United States | 6:00 am6 hours behind | 6:00 am6 hours behind |
| Los Angeles, United States | 4:00 am8 hours behind | 4:00 am8 hours behind |
| United Arab Emirates | 4:00 pm4 hours ahead | 3:00 pm3 hours ahead |
| Singapore | 8:00 pm8 hours ahead | 7:00 pm7 hours ahead |
| Japan | 9:00 pm9 hours ahead | 8:00 pm8 hours ahead |
| Sydney, Australia | 11:00 pm11 hours ahead | 9:00 pm9 hours ahead |
The table uses the offsets in force in mid January and mid July 2026. Use the converter for any other date.
Clock time and sun time in United Kingdom
A time zone is an agreement, and the sun does not follow it exactly. London, the largest city in this zone, lies at about 0.1° west. Each degree of longitude is worth four minutes, so by the sun alone its time would be about 1 minute behind UTC. The clock is set to UTC. The sun is therefore highest in the sky at about 12:01 pm by the clock on standard time, and at about 1:01 pm while the clocks are moved (UTC+1). That is a close match: clock and sun agree to within a quarter of an hour. Other places in the zone, to the east or west of London, see the sun peak a little earlier or later. Through the year the figure also drifts by up to a quarter of an hour either way.
How long the day is
London is about 51.5° north of the equator. On the longest day of the year, around 21 June, the sun is up for about 16 hours 38 minutes. On the shortest, around 21 December, for about 7 hours 49 minutes. That swing of about 8 hours 49 minutes between summer and winter is the reason clocks are moved here: the extra summer daylight is shifted from the early morning to the evening.
Office hours shared with other places
If both sides work from 9 am to 6 pm, these are the hours when a call falls inside the working day at both ends. Times are for United Kingdom.
- With India, in January: 9:00 am to 12:30 pm here, which is 2:30 pm to 6:00 pm in India (3 hours 30 minutes shared). In July: 9:00 am to 1:30 pm here, which is 1:30 pm to 6:00 pm in India (4 hours 30 minutes shared).
- With New York, all year: 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm here, which is 9:00 am to 1:00 pm in New York (4 hours shared).
- With Singapore, in January: 9:00 am to 10:00 am here, which is 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm in Singapore (1 hour shared). In July: 9:00 am to 11:00 am here, which is 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm in Singapore (2 hours shared).
How many people keep this time
The GeoNames list has 803 towns and cities of 15,000 people or more in this zone area, with about 56 million people between them. People in villages and smaller towns are not in that count, so the true number on this clock is higher.
Cities that keep this time
The largest cities in this zone: London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Bristol, Cardiff, Leicester, Bradford, Belfast, Coventry.
Places with exactly the same time
These zones show the same time as United Kingdom through the whole year: Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey.
The clock above uses your device's clock and the time zone rules built into your browser. Rules on this page: IANA time zone database 2026f. See About and data sources.