Archives May 2026

If you’re managing projects or payroll, budgeting or planning, you need to know how many working hours there are in a year or month.

Maybe you’re planning resources and output, and want to create a detailed plan including the amount of working hours for the year.

Or, you want to reassess productivity and benchmark if you’re meeting average working hours in a month or year.

In this article, we’ll cover how to calculate the number of working hours in a year, month, or week.

We’ll also cover the factors that affect how many hours your employees work, such as employment status and paid leave benefits.

By the end, you’ll even have benchmarks that clarify how many working hours and paid holidays are typical for employees in various locations, occupations, and seniority levels—so your business can stay competitive.

Here’s what we’ll cover

How many working hours in a year for 2026?

To calculate the total working hours for 2026, multiply the number of hours in the working week by the number of weeks in the year.

You’d compute the total working hours per year for a standard 37.5-hour working week like so:

37.5 Hours per Week x 52 Weeks per Year = 1,950 Working Hours per Year

This figure represents gross working hours based on a 52-week year. In UK planning contexts, it is typically used as a starting point only, as statutory annual leave (5.6 weeks) and bank holidays reduce actual available working time. 

However, not every employee works 37.5 hours a week, and this doesn’t account for bank holidays.

If you don’t account for employees’ working schedules, you could end up under-booking them or not having enough staff to complete a project.

Need to plan for employees with part-time or overtime hours?

Use this chart to figure out the total weekly hours.

Weekly Working Hours	Annual Working Hours Calculation	Total Working Hours Per Year
20	20 Hours × 52 Weeks	1,040
25	25 Hours × 52 Weeks	1,300
30	30 Hours × 52 Weeks	1,560
35	35 Hours × 52 Weeks	1,820
37.5	37.5 Hours × 52 Weeks	1,950
40	40 Hours × 52 Weeks	2,080
45	45 Hours × 52 Weeks	2,340
50	50 Hours × 52 Weeks	2,600
60	60 Hours × 52 Weeks	3,120

If your employees’ working hours fluctuate significantly from day to day or week to week, the formulas above might not provide accurate results.

Instead, you’d need to track time for employees and tally hours manually.

Does 1,950 hours per year include bank holidays?

The chart above relies on working a standard week for all 52 weeks in a year.

As a result, it doesn’t factor in bank holidays, paid time off (PTO), or other non-working hours.

When you are resource planning for a year, you should consider that UK employees are entitled to 5.6 weeks of statutory annual leave per year.

This equates to 28 days for a full-time employee working a five-day week, and may include or exclude bank holidays depending on the employer’s policy. 

Since employees typically take paid or unpaid time off at some point during the year, few actually work the total number of hours in a year.

Below, we’ll walk through the process of calculating time off for bank holidays.

Working hours per month UK

The data above is helpful for annual planning.

But when you plan projects or payroll by the month or quarter, you won’t want to calculate total hours for the week or year.

Don’t make the mistake of calculating working hours in a month by multiplying a week by four.

Months have a differing number of days, so you have to multiply by all the weeks in a year and then dividing by the number of months.

Use this formula to compute the number of working hours in an average month:

((Daily Hours x Workdays per Week) x 52 Weeks per Year) / 12 Months per Year = Working Hours per Month

For example, say you need to know how many hours a new employee will work per month.

Suppose they clock in for 7.5 hours a day, five days a week. You’d compute their working hours per month like so:

((7.5 x 5) x 52) / 12 = 162.5 Working Hours per Month

You can use the same formula to figure out the number of monthly working hours for employees who work longer or shorter hours.

For example, here’s how you’d calculate working hours per month for a half-time employee:

((3.75 x 5) x 52) / 12 = 81.25 Working Hours per Month

And here’s how you’d estimate monthly hours for an executive or team lead who puts in extra hours each week:

((10 x 5) x 52) / 12 = 216.67 Working Hours per Month

To calculate working hours per quarter, divide the working hours by four quarters instead of 12 months. Like this:

((7.5 x 5) x 52) / 4 = 487.5 Working Hours per Quarter

What are the average working hours per week?

The hours that employees actually spend on the clock don’t always align with the total available working hours in a given year, month, or week.

So, what does an average employee’s working week actually look like?

The standard working week in the UK is 37.5 hours.

However, data from the Office for National Statistics shows that the average employee in the UK works for 36.4 hours per week (including full and part-time).

Average weekly hours differ slightly depending on education level and sector.

Workers in professional occupations typically work standard hours.

On average, they work for 37.5 hours per week.

Employees in managerial roles often clock the most hours.

On average, they work for 39.2 hours per week.

The number of jobs a worker holds has a negligible effect on total working hours.

Multiple jobholders work for 36.5 hours per week on average.

On average, single jobholders work for 36.4 hours per week.

How many hours does a full-time employee work in a year?

In the UK, full-time employment is typically defined as working 35 or more hours per week.

On average, full-time employees in the United Kingdom work 37.5 hours per week.

Full-time, the average working hours equate to 37.5 hours per week, 162.5 hours per month, or 1,950 hours per year.

How many hours does a part-time employee work in a year?

Part-time employment involves working less than 35 hours per week.

On average, part-time employees work 16.3 hours per week.

If they work five days per week, they end up clocking in for approximately 3.26 hours per day.

Part-time, the average working hours equate to 16.3 hours per week, 70.63 hours per month, or 847.6 hours per year.

How do actual working hours compare around the world?

Around the world, actual working hours vary significantly, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

In the UK, employees work an average of 1,532 hours per year.

Figures are based on OECD average annual working hours per employee and may vary depending on methodology and data collection across countries. 

Several countries have higher annual average working hours, including:

• Mexico: 2,207 hours
• Costa Rica: 2,171 hours
• Chile: 1,953 hours
• Greece: 1,897 hours
• Israel: 1,880 hours

Factors like longer workdays and fewer holidays may drive up the actual hours employees worked in these countries.

Several countries have much lower annual average working hours, including:

• Germany: 1,343 hours
• Denmark: 1,380 hours
• Netherlands: 1,413 hours
• Norway: 1,418 hours
• Austria: 1,435 hours

Compared to the UK, workers in these countries may have shorter workdays, more holidays, or both.

How to calculate working hours in a year

To calculate actual working hours per year for an employee, you need a few data points, including:

• Daily working hours
• Bank holidays
• Annual leave days, including holiday, sick, and personal days

The following calculation provides a net estimate of working hours after accounting for leave and bank holidays. 

Formula to calculate actual working hours per year:

((Daily Working Hours x 5) x 52) – ((Bank Holidays + Annual Leave Days) x Daily Working Hours) = Total Yearly Working Hours

For example, suppose you’re planning to hire a new employee with a standard 7.5-hour workday.

Say their benefits package includes eight bank holidays per year and 20 annual leave days.

For the entire year, their total working hours would be:

((7.5 x 5) x 52) – ((8 + 20) x 7.5) = 1,740 Working Hours per Year

Bank holidays in the UK

The UK observes eight bank holidays each year in England and Wales. Here’s when these bank holidays fall in 2026:

(The table below outlines bank holidays in England and Wales for 2026. Bank holiday dates differ in Scotland and Northern Ireland.)

Bank Holiday	Timing	2026 Date
New Year’s Day	1st January	1 January 2026 (Thursday)
Good Friday	Friday before Easter Sunday	3 April 2026
Easter Monday	Monday after Easter Sunday	6 April 2026
Early May bank holiday	First Monday in May	4 May 2026
Spring bank holiday	Last Monday in May	25 May 2026
Summer bank holiday	Last Monday in August	31 August 2026
Christmas Day	25th December	25 December 2026 (Friday)
Boxing Day (substitute day)	26th December (falls on Saturday)	28 December 2026 (Monday substitute)

Scotland observes two additional bank holidays: 2nd January and St Andrew’s Day (30th November).

Northern Ireland observes two additional bank holidays: St Patrick’s Day (17th March) and Battle of the Boyne (12th July).

As a business owner, you have the option to give employees time off for any or all of these bank holidays, though there is no automatic right to paid leave on bank holidays.

Statutory vs. contractual paid time off

Whilst all UK nations observe the bank holidays above, employers are not legally required to give employees paid time off on these dates.

However, workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks of statutory annual leave per year.

Many employers choose to include bank holidays within this statutory entitlement.

For example, a full-time employee working five days a week is entitled to 28 days of annual leave (5.6 weeks x 5 days).

If the employer observes eight bank holidays, the employee would have 20 days remaining to take at their discretion.

Some employers offer enhanced contractual annual leave above the statutory minimum.

This might increase with length of service or seniority level.

How much time off do employees receive?

Between bank holidays, annual leave, personal days, and sick leave, total time off varies significantly from employer to employer.

There’s no overall average for time off, as it often depends on the employee’s length of service.

The statutory minimum is 5.6 weeks (28 days for full-time workers), but many employers offer more generous packages.

But the longer employees stay with your company, the more annual leave you’ll want to consider offering.

Many organisations increase annual leave entitlement after five or ten years of service as a retention benefit.

What are the average working hours by profession?

Across all professions, employees work 36.4 hours per week on average. However, working hours vary slightly between occupations.

Roles with the highest average hours include:

• Managers, directors and senior officials: 39.2 hours per week
• Skilled trades occupations: 39.1 hours per week
• Process, plant and machine operatives: 38.9 hours per week
• Professional occupations: 37.5 hours per week
• Associate professional and technical: 37.2 hours per week

These occupations have the lowest average working hours:

• Caring, leisure and other service occupations: 30.1 hours per week
• Sales and customer service occupations: 31.8 hours per week
• Elementary occupations: 32.4 hours per week
• Administrative and secretarial: 34.6 hours per week

Depending on your industry and the roles you need to fill, you may find it helpful to adjust your resource or budget planning based on this data.

Keep in mind that your employment contracts should stipulate required working hours.

What are the average working hours by region?

Location also affects working hours.

Across the UK, average weekly working hours range from 38.1 in London to 34.2 in Northern Ireland.

Regions with the highest average weekly hours include:

• London: 38.1 hours per week
• South East: 37.2 hours per week
• East of England: 37.0 hours per week
• South West: 36.8 hours per week
• East Midlands: 36.7 hours per week

Regions with the lowest average weekly hours include:

• Northern Ireland: 34.2 hours per week
• Wales: 35.4 hours per week
• North East: 35.8 hours per week
• Yorkshire and The Humber: 36.0 hours per week
• North West: 36.1 hours per week

Depending on where your business is based, local standards may mean you expect employees to work longer or shorter hours.

However, your employment contracts should specify the required hours.

Factors that can affect the total number of working hours in a year

The number of working hours in a year can fluctuate depending on what year it is, when it starts, and which benefits your business offers.

As you calculate total working hours for your employees, consider these factors:

• Weekends: Depending on the day of the week when the year starts, it may include an additional workday.
• Leap years: Leap years, which happen every four years, typically add an extra working day to the calendar.
• Bank holidays: The number of bank holidays can vary if they fall on weekends and substitute days are observed.
• Monthly working hours: When you calculate working hours by month, the total depends on the number of days in the month and the number of weekend days it includes.
• Employment status: Full-time employees work at least 35 hours per week, whilst part-time employees work less than 35 hours per week.
• Annual leave: UK workers are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks’ paid annual leave per year, though many employers offer more.
• Sick leave: Employees may be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) or enhanced contractual sick pay, which affects actual working hours.

When you haven’t included these factors in your calculations, budgeting for employee salaries can be challenging.

But with the right accounting software, it’s much simpler to manage payroll and incorporate paid leave.

Working hours FAQs

Your team may be using AI. The question is whether anyone’s in charge of it.

Nobody announced it. There was no policy meeting, no training session, no sign-off. But somewhere, somehow, AI has quietly become part of how your team works.

Customer emails drafted with ChatGPT or Claude. Meeting notes summarised in seconds. A prospecting template built in minutes rather than hours.

None of it flagged. A lot of it useful. All of it happening with or without you.

For most small businesses, that’s where AI adoption starts—not with a strategy, but with individuals finding shortcuts and not mentioning it.

This creates a problem that has nothing to do with the technology.

The risk with AI is when you have no shared understanding of how to use it well. No common baseline for what good looks like, what needs checking, or who’s accountable when an output turns out to be wrong.

That gap between informal use and applied capability needs closing. And the North East TechNExt Festival, with Sage, Google and Multiverse, is your shortcut to doing so, if you live in Newcastle or the surrounding areas.

From shortcut to skill

The difference between AI as a time-saver and AI as something your business can genuinely rely upon comes down to judgment: Knowing when to trust an output, when to question it, and when not to use AI at all.

That judgment comes from practice—and from seeing how other businesses in similar situations are applying these tools.

On 16 June, techUK, Sage, Google and Multiverse are running a free, full-day AI skills session in Newcastle as part of the North East TechNExt Festival, aimed specifically at small and medium-sized businesses.

It’s practical by design. You’ll work through prompting techniques that improve results immediately, identify where AI can reduce effort in your existing workflows, and see real examples of how other businesses are using it for repeatable, day-to-day tasks.

The afternoon covers what needs to be in place before you think about scaling—processes, data, defined outcomes, human oversight.

All you need to bring is yourself and your laptop. You should expect to leave with something you can use.

What applied AI looks like

Tyne Chease, a UK food business, used Sage Ai to automate part of its invoice chasing process—something it had been doing manually, every week.

The result was straightforward: the business was paid up to seven days faster, around 14 hours of admin time saved every week. No technical rebuild. No transformation programme. One routine task, improved with AI, with a clear and measurable outcome.

That’s the version of AI adoption that sticks. Not the one built on hype, but the one built on identifying a specific problem and testing whether AI can help solve it.

Building the baseline

If your team can’t make the Newcastle session, have a look at the AI Skills Boost hub.

It’s a free government-backed initiative, delivered in partnership with organisations including Sage, offering short, practical courses designed for everyday business roles. Courses take as little as 20 minutes and cover the foundational skills people need to use AI confidently and responsibly at work.

It won’t replace the experience of working through real examples in a room with other business owners. But it gives your team a shared starting point.

You’ll get the most from AI if you have the judgment to use it well. The Newcastle session is a good place to start—and you’re invited. But be quick. Places are strictly limited.

Too many practices are still treating AI as a toy with which to play around.

Perhaps one person uses ChatGPT for emails. Maybe somebody else is testing Microsoft Copilot in Excel. Another asks a practice tool to draft a sentence of commentary.

This might be useful, but it isn’t strategic. And it needs to be.

In this article, we take a look at moving from the experimentation mindset to one that’s firmly operational. Here’s what we discuss:

AI assistants vs AI agents: Know the difference

A critical distinction is understanding the difference between AI assistants and AI agents.

Assistants respond to a prompt. They might draft a variance note, summarise a client email, rewrite a paragraph or explain a movement.

They make a single task faster, but the human still decides the sequence, finds the source data, checks completeness, determines the next action and carries the work between systems.

Agents are a whole different level of sophistication.

An agent is designed around a goal and a repeatable sequence, and works largely autonomously.

In a month-end workflow, that could mean pulling bank feed transactions, matching predictable items, flagging unreconciled entries, comparing current month results with prior periods, drafting commentary, preparing client questions, creating supporting schedules—and then notifying a reviewer.

The accountant or bookkeeper is still accountable, but the role moves from manual execution, to workflow direction, review and judgement.

That’s why this isn’t a technology story alone. It’s a professional development story.

The people who progress in accounting today are those who can map a process, define the controls, specify the data, set review points and explain the outcome to a client.

It’s not just professional judgement. It’s structured professional judgement.

Start where AI is already reliable

Current high-value use cases for AI include month-end commentary, board-pack narratives, quarterly update preparation, cashflow discussion notes, AP and AR coding support, journal entry risk spotting, working paper preparation and movement analysis.

These are areas where AI can convert raw data into a first draft, highlight anomalies, group issues and create a clearer starting point for review.

But it does not mean trusting AI blindly with numbers.

It means using it to reduce the administrative drag around the professional work.

A draft variance note isn’t the final advice. A suggested coding category isn’t a signed-off posting. A client-facing summary isn’t a substitute for understanding the client.

But the first pass matters because it frees time for the work clients actually notice: clarity, reassurance, prioritisation and judgement.

The missing AI ingredient is structure

So, we can say in summary: Most firms are not short of curiosity about AI. They are short of structure.

And care must be taken. Without common prompts, shared templates, workflow maps and review rules, AI can increase inconsistency.

One person’s output is formal, another’s is chatty, another’s misses the commercial point. Review time rises because no one has agreed what good looks like.

A structured approach should start with a prompt framework.

Every prompt needs a clear goal, relevant context, the source material to be used and defined expectations for tone, length, format and audience.

For example: ask AI to produce a plain-English client note, using this month’s profit and loss movements and prior-period comparatives, no more than 200 words, with three client questions and a separate list of items requiring review.

That’s materially stronger than asking it to “write a summary”.

What’s more, practices should aim to create an AI file for each significant AI-supported workflow.

This should record the purpose of the AI use, data inputs, model or tool version, prompt structure, known risks, testing evidence, accuracy over time, reviewer comments and final sign-off.

This mirrors the compliance mindset accountants and bookkeepers already use. It also aligns with the direction of AI governance: demonstrate accountability, protect personal and confidential data, document the process and keep a human in control.

Next steps: Build the 5-step AI agent workflow

A practical agent workflow has five steps:

1. Intake: gather the data or documents
2. Check: validate completeness, scope and exceptions
3. Do: perform the calculation, transformation, classification or drafting
4. Document: create the audit trail and explain the reasoning
5. Notify: send the output to a human reviewer

This pattern is simple enough for every practice to use and disciplined enough to prevent AI becoming chaotic.

It also points to the new roles emerging inside AI-enabled practices.

An AI librarian manages prompt templates and agent instructions. A workflow owner ensures the human and AI steps remain efficient. A data quality lead protects the inputs. A model risk approver tests agents and signs off risk. A client communication lead ensures outputs are clear, accurate and consistent with the firm’s tone.

Smaller firms may combine these roles, but they still need the responsibilities.

Final thoughts: Your 30-day plan

Choose one workflow, not ten. Month-end commentary or quarterly update preparation is ideal because it’s recurring, visible and rich in narrative value.

Map the steps as they happen today. Identify where AI can draft, compare, classify or flag. Write one approved prompt template. Run it on past data. Compare the output with the final work you actually delivered.

Record known failure points. Add a human review checkpoint before anything reaches a client.

Then measure three things: time saved, review time added and output quality.

This is the difference between playing with AI and becoming AI-enabled.

The firms that do this now will build repeatable capacity, safer delivery and stronger client conversations. The firms that wait will still be busy, but increasingly surrounded by competitors who can deliver faster, clearer and more commercially useful work.

Frequently asked questions

For accountancy practices that have investigated AI, there’s only one question:

“We saved time. But did we make money?”

It’s blunt but it also cuts through the hype.

AI can draft faster, summarise faster, compare faster and prepare a first pass faster. But if the client still buys “hours” and the firm still prices by assumed manual effort, the commercial result can be disappointing.

Finding a way out of this trap is what this article is all about. Here’s what we cover:

AI trap #1: Speed isn’t the product

The danger isn’t that AI fails.

The danger is that it works so well that it exposes a fragile business model.

If a piece of work used to take four hours and now takes one, the client may expect the fee to fall. If the firm lowers the fee without changing the service proposition, it has transferred the value of AI to the client while keeping the implementation cost, review risk and governance burden.

Sadly, that’s not transformation. It’s margin erosion.

The efficiency trap appears when firms confuse time saved with value created.

A faster reconciliation is helpful, but clients don’t ultimately remain on your books because the reconciliation happened quickly. They stay because the figures are clean, the risks are understood, the story is explained and they feel in control of their business.

If AI simply accelerates the old hourly model, it can collapse the logic of that model. Time becomes a cost to be reduced, not a product to be sold.

That’s why practices must stop presenting AI as a cheaper way to do the same work.

The commercial opportunity is to create a better service: earlier insight, clearer client questions, proactive exception reporting, stronger working papers, documented controls and more regular conversations.

The output should feel more valuable, not merely faster.

AI trap #2: It’s not about repricing

Pricing should follow workflow redesign, not the other way round.

Start by mapping the service and asking where AI can reduce admin, where humans must review, where exceptions arise and where the client experiences value.

Then remove unnecessary steps: standardise templates, create human checkpoints and define the review evidence required before anything is issued.

The webinar set out a clear sequence: redesign workflows, reduce work, productise services, reprice outcomes, create human checkpoints and standardise templates and agent patterns.

Sequences like this matter. If you put AI into a messy workflow, you get faster mess. If you put AI into a controlled workflow, you get repeatable capacity.

A practical example is quarterly compliance and insights. The old model might be “VAT return preparation – £X”. The new model is stronger: “Quarterly Compliance and Insights Pack – £X”.

That package can include digital record checks, exception reporting, variance commentary, client questions, cashflow observations and a short review call.

The client is no longer buying a submission. They’re buying certainty, insight and reassurance.

AI trap #3: Clients value confidence, not time

The most valuable practices will translate AI efficiency into defined service tiers.

A basic tier might offer clean records, core compliance and exception lists.

A higher tier might add monthly commentary, board-pack narratives and proactive client questions.

A premium tier might add always-on monitoring, predictive cashflow conversations and regular management insight.

This isn’t artificial upselling. It’s a clearer expression of value that was previously hidden inside labour.

The pricing language should shift from activity to outcome: speed, certainty, unlimited questions within scope, proactive insights, predictive capabilities and tiered service packages.

Clients don’t wake up wanting a journal review; they want fewer surprises. They don’t value a beautifully reconciled control account in isolation; they value confidence that the numbers are reliable and that someone will tell them what needs attention.

AI trap #4: Governance makes it sellable

Some firms see AI governance as a brake on innovation. In reality, it’s what makes the service sellable.

The direction from professional and regulatory guidance is consistent: use AI with accountability, data protection, documentation, testing, explainability, and human oversight.

Accountants and bookkeepers already work this way in tax, payroll, bookkeeping, accounts preparation and assurance-adjacent processes. AI simply needs the same discipline.

An AI File should sit behind every material AI-supported service.

It records the purpose of the tool, the data used, the prompt structure, the version of the model or software, known risks, testing evidence, accuracy over time, reviewer notes and final sign-off.

That file protects the client, the firm, and the practitioner. It also helps insurers, professional bodies and clients understand that the firm has not delegated judgement to a black box.

AI trap #5: Old roles stay, but new ones arrive

The AI-enabled practice needs new responsibilities, even if the same person wears several hats.

The AI librarian manages approved prompts and templates. The model risk approver signs off tests and known failure points. The workflow owner keeps the human and AI sequence efficient. The data quality lead ensures clean inputs. The client communication lead turns output into plain English advice.

These roles protect both quality and profitability because they stop the team reinventing the same prompt, review, and client explanation every week.

Final thoughts

Don’t lead with “we use AI”.

Lead with what the client now receives: faster turnaround, clearer explanations, stronger controls, more proactive questions and fewer surprises.

The practices that learn this pricing shift will convert AI into margin, capacity, and client loyalty. The practices that don’t will still save time, but they may discover that the time saved has become someone else’s discount.

Frequently asked questions

If you own one or two rental properties—perhaps a buy-to-let bought as a long-term investment, or a family home inherited from a parent—the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 impacts you.

It’s the most significant overhaul of the private rented sector in over thirty years.

The Act came into force on 1 May 2026 and reshapes how tenancies work, how rent is set, and how landlords seek possession.

This guide is written for landlords without large portfolios or in-house legal teams. It walks through what is happening, what you need to do this month, and what is coming over the next 12 to 18 months—all in plain English. This isn’t legal advice: That’s for you to seek from professionals. But hopefully it will provide pointers on where to start.

Here’s what we discuss:

Renters’ Rights Act: What is changing, in summary

The Act applies in England and affects most assured shorthold tenancies (ASTs) in the private rented sector.

Around 11 million renters and roughly two million landlords fall within its scope.

Here’s the key things to know:

• From 1 May 2026, fixed-term ASTs are replaced by assured periodic tenancies—rolling agreements that continue month by month until either the landlord serves a valid possession notice or the tenant gives two months’ notice to leave.
• Section 21 “no-fault” evictions are abolished. In their place, landlords use Section 8 with reformed and expanded possession grounds, including new grounds covering the sale of the property and a landlord moving back in.
• Rent can be raised once per year with at least two months’ written notice, and tenants can challenge increases through the First-tier Tribunal.
• Any adverts landlords create must list a clear asking rent, and accepting offers above that figure—known as rental bidding—is no longer permitted.
• Landlords cannot ask for more than one month’s rent in advance at the start of a new tenancy.

The most pressing task for landlords with existing tenancies is the Information Sheet.

The government has produced an official document that explains the new rules to tenants, and a copy must be given to every qualifying existing tenant by 31 May 2026.

Failure to do so can result in a financial penalty from the local council.

You can deliver it digitally—email is fine—or on paper, whichever suits your tenant. Keep a record of when and how you sent it.

One note about emailing: You must attach the PDF. It’s not valid to provide a link to a PDF (for example, simply linking to the government’s website).

If your existing arrangement is purely verbal, you cannot use the Information Sheet. Instead you need to provide a written statement of the key terms of the tenancy. Government guidance on this is published on GOV.UK.

For new tenancies signed on or after 1 May 2026, the Information Sheet isn’t used.

Instead, mandatory written information about the tenancy must be included in, or supplied alongside, the tenancy agreement before it’s signed. Updated template agreements that include this information are available from landlord associations and conveyancing services.

One more deadline to note: if you served a Section 21 notice before 1 May 2026, court action must begin by 31 July 2026 for it to remain valid. After that date, only Section 8 routes are open.

Renters’ Rights Act: What’s coming next

Beyond the May 2026 launch, several further changes are scheduled.

A new Private Rented Sector Landlord Database will roll out gradually from late 2026, requiring landlords to register and giving tenants and councils a way to verify properties and ownership.

A Private Rented Sector Ombudsman will be launched to handle tenant complaints outside the court system, offering quicker, lower-cost resolution for both sides.

The government has also indicated that a Decent Homes Standard equivalent will be applied to the private sector, alongside reform of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) to make it easier for landlords and councils to use.

Anti-discrimination provisions mean landlords and agents cannot refuse tenants on the basis that they have children or receive benefits.

There is one further restriction worth understanding now: if you serve a possession notice on the ground of selling the property, you cannot re-let the home for 12 months afterwards. This is designed to keep the ground genuine, and it has real planning implications if you are considering a sale.

Existing requirements remain in place too: protected deposits, valid EPC, gas safety certificate, and electrical safety report are all still required, and councils will have stronger enforcement powers under the new framework.

One more thing to keep on your radar: Making Tax Digital

Alongside the Renters’ Rights Act, there is a parallel change worth knowing about—Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.

HMRC’s new digital tax system went live on 6 April 2026 for landlords and sole traders with qualifying income over £50,000.

From 6 April 2027 the threshold drops to £30,000, and from 6 April 2028 it falls again to £20,000. Qualifying income is your gross rental income (before expenses), combined with any self-employment income. For jointly owned properties, only your share of the rent counts toward the threshold.

For most one- or two-property landlords, the £30,000 and £20,000 thresholds are likely to be the ones that matter.

A single property let at £1,700 a month already produces over £20,000 in gross rent, so a large number of small landlords will be brought into scope by 2028.

If you fall in scope, you will need to keep digital records using MTD-compatible software and submit quarterly updates for any businesses you run plus your rental income, plus a single year-end Self Assessment return.

Landlords who hold property through a limited company aren’t affected—companies report under Corporation Tax instead.

While you are updating your tenancy paperwork for the Renters’ Rights Act, it’s a good moment to review your bookkeeping too. Speak to your accountant about which threshold applies to you, and start looking at landlord-friendly accounting software early.

Voluntary sign-up is already open, which gives you time to test the process before it becomes mandatory, regardless of your income level.

Three takeaways for small landlords

Here’s what you should be doing today.

1. Update your paperwork now, not later. Swap any old AST templates for new assured periodic tenancy templates, prepare your Information Sheet delivery, and build a simple compliance checklist you can reuse for every future tenancy.
2. Diary the key dates. Put 31 May 2026 (Information Sheet deadline), 31 July 2026 (existing Section 21 court deadline), and your tenants’ rent review anniversaries into your calendar now. Rent rises are once a year, so each property needs its own anniversary tracked carefully.
3. Invest in the relationship with your tenant. Most disputes that reach the tribunal or the courts start as small misunderstandings. A landlord who communicates clearly, responds promptly to repair requests, and gives proper notice of rent reviews is far less likely to face challenges. The new framework genuinely rewards good practice.

Final thoughts

The Renters’ Rights Act represents a genuine shift in how the private rented sector works, but for landlords who already run their properties professionally and communicate well with tenants, much of it will feel like a formalisation of good practice rather than upheaval.

Combined with the parallel rollout of Making Tax Digital, this is a useful moment to pause and put your systems in order. Tackle it in small steps over the next few weeks, lean on your accountant and any landlord association you belong to, and you will be set up well for the years ahead.

Frequently asked questions