The clocks will go back an hour at 2am on Sunday, October 25, 2026, marking the end of British Summer Time and the start of Greenwich Mean Time. The change comes a day earlier than in 2025, when clocks went back on Sunday, October 26.
Earlier date and darker evenings
The arrival of autumn brings the end of daylight saving time, which rarely goes down well across the UK. Those early sunsets mean workers can miss almost all of the day's natural light. On the bright side, there will at least be an extra hour in bed when the clocks change.
According to timeanddate.com, sunset on October 14 takes place at 6:12pm in London. However, the days will gradually shorten, with sunset dropping to 6.03pm by Sunday, October 20, before falling further to 4:46pm on Sunday, October 25 — the day the clocks go back.
How to remember the change
A handy way to remember which way the clocks will go is the well-known phrase: "spring forward, fall back". Most modern devices, including smartphones and smartwatches, will update automatically at 2am on Sunday, rolling back to 1am. Older, traditional clocks, however, will need to be adjusted by hand.
The tradition of changing the clocks was introduced to make the most of natural daylight hours. It means mornings will be brighter, gaining an extra hour of daylight — but it also means darkness will fall much earlier in the evenings.
Looking ahead to 2027
Looking forward, clocks will spring forward next year on Sunday, March 28, 2027, and return on October, 2027. This marks the latest possible date the clocks could go back in any given year.
