UK clocks fall back 1 hour on Oct 26 2025, ending British Summer Time

On Sunday 26 October 2025, clocks across the United Kingdom will retreat from 2:00 am to 1:00 am, swapping Royal Observatory Greenwich’s British Summer Time for Greenwich Mean Time. The shift, mandated by the Summer Time Act 1916, gives millions a bonus hour of sleep and signals the yearly end to daylight‑saving adjustments.

Why the UK changes its clocks

Britain has been rolling its clocks forward each spring and back each autumn for more than a century. The British Summer Time arrangement was originally a wartime measure to curb coal consumption, but it survived because it nudges evening daylight into the active part of the day. According to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, sunrise on the morning of the October change occurs roughly one hour earlier than the day before, meaning commuters see daylight at 6 am instead of 7 am, while evenings grow dimmer.

How the 2025 clock change works

The official timetable, published on GOV.UK, sets the backward shift for 02:00:00 am local daylight time on 26 October 2025. At that moment, every public and private clock— from the iconic Greenwich Observatory’s telescopic chronometers to the digital displays on London Underground stations— will instantly jump back 60 minutes. The change is synchronized nationwide; there are no regional variations, even though the UK’s overseas territories span nine time zones.

• Forward shift: 01:00 am on 30 March 2025.
• Backward shift: 02:00 am on 26 October 2025.
• Next forward: 29 March 2026.
• Next backward: 25 October 2026.

For anyone setting a manual wall clock, the mnemonic “spring forward, fall back” still does the trick, but smart devices adjust automatically via internet time servers linked to the Observatory’s atomic clocks.

Historical roots and the Summer Time Act

The idea didn’t sprout from a parliamentary committee; it began with a London builder named William Willett, inventor. In 1907 he published a pamphlet titled “The Waste of Daylight,” urging people to shift clocks forward in four 20‑minute increments each spring. Willett died in 1915, but his lobbying helped convince lawmakers. The following year, Parliament passed the Summer Time Act, opting for a simpler one‑hour jump rather than Willett’s multi‑step proposal.

World War I accelerated adoption. Germany led the charge on 1 May 1916, hoping to conserve coal; the UK followed on 21 May 1916. Aside from the full‑year BST experiment during World II (when the country stayed on summer time to extend daylight for factory shifts), the schedule has remained steady.

Public response and practical effects

Most Britons treat the October switch as a modest inconvenience: an extra hour of sleep, a later sunset, and a brief period of darker evenings. Retailers in Manchester report a modest dip in footfall on the first evening after the change, while northern farmers note that livestock adjust quickly to the altered light cycle.

“The shift is largely symbolic now,” says Emma Collins, a spokesperson at Royal Observatory Greenwich. “But it still influences energy usage patterns and public health, especially for older adults who benefit from the extra hour of rest.”

Transport operators adjust timetables minutes before the change. The London Underground releases a “clock‑change notice” at 01:55 am, ensuring passengers aren’t stranded. Airlines, however, must recalculate flight plans because the UK’s air traffic control reverts to GMT, aligning with international standards.

Looking ahead: possible reforms

Across the Channel, the European Union is debating a permanent‑summer‑time or permanent‑standard‑time model. While the UK is no longer bound to EU directives post‑Brexit, the conversation reverberates in Westminster. A 2023 public consultation saw 48 % of respondents favour scrapping the twice‑yearly change, but the government has yet to legislate any alteration.

Should a reform pass, the next nationwide clock shift could be delayed indefinitely, turning the 26 October 2025 event into perhaps the last of its kind. For now, though, the ritual endures, and households across Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and England will set their watches back – literally and metaphorically – as autumn settles in.