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Free Excel Leave Planner 2027

Get your team's 2027 leave year organised before it starts. Track holiday, annual leave and absences for up to 100 employees with this free Excel planner. UK bank holidays are pre-filled and the calendar is customisable to fit your company's specific dates. No sign-up needed — just download the .xlsx file and start planning.

.xlsx file · Microsoft Excel · Free · No support provided

Excel leave planner 2027 — monthly calendar view showing team holiday bookings
The calendar contains dates for 2027, bank holidays and company dates are customisable
Excel leave planner 2027 — leave balance calculations showing remaining holiday days per employee
Entitlement and days remaining are automatically tracked on the balance sheet.
Looking for the current year? The 2026 version is also available. Get Free 2026 Planner →

What's included in the free 2027 excel planner

Calendar sheet

Plan your whole 2027 leave year on a colour-coded 12 month calendar. Each leave type has its own colour so you can see who's off and when at a glance. Bank holidays for 2027 are already marked, and half-days or other fractions are handled through the leave code values with no formula editing required.

Calculations sheet

Each employee gets their own row showing their 2027 entitlement, days taken so far, and remaining balance - recalculated automatically as leave is entered. Any carry-over from 2026 can be added directly to the entitlement figure.

All UK statutory leave types included

Every UK statutory leave category is built in from day one - Annual Leave, Sick Leave, Maternity Leave, Paternity Leave, Adoption Leave, Shared Parental Leave, Compassionate Leave, Parental Bereavement Leave, TOIL and more, each with its own colour. You can also customise the codes with your own company-specific ones

2027 UK bank holidays (England & Wales)

All 8 public holidays are pre-filled in the planner. Scotland has 9 bank holidays and Northern Ireland has 10 - add any additional dates manually on the Calendar sheet.

Date Day Bank holiday Notes
1 January 2027 Friday New Year's Day 3-day start to the year
26 March 2027 Friday Good Friday 4-day Easter break, no leave needed
29 March 2027 Monday Easter Monday 4-day Easter break, no leave needed
3 May 2027 Monday Early May Bank Holiday Take Fri 30 Apr for a 4-day weekend
31 May 2027 Monday Spring Bank Holiday Take Fri 28 May for a 4-day weekend
30 August 2027 Monday Summer Bank Holiday Take Fri 27 Aug for a 4-day weekend
27 December 2027 Monday Christmas Day (substitute) 25 Dec falls on a Saturday
28 December 2027 Tuesday Boxing Day (substitute) 26 Dec falls on a Sunday

Making the most of 2027 bank holidays

2027 has some excellent opportunities to stretch bank holidays into longer breaks - including one where 3 days' leave buys 10 days off. Planning these in your planner early helps avoid clashes when the whole team wants the same days.

Christmas & New Year Best of 2027

Sat 25 Dec 2027 – Mon 3 Jan 2028

Christmas and Boxing Day both fall on the weekend, so substitutes run Mon 27 and Tue 28 Dec. Take just 3 days' leave (Wed 29, Thu 30, Fri 31 Dec) and the New Year substitute on Mon 3 Jan 2028 extends the break to 10 consecutive days off.

3
days' leave
10
days off
Easter

Fri 26 March – Mon 29 March

Good Friday and Easter Monday bookend the weekend. A free 4-day break - no annual leave needed at all.

0
days' leave
4
days off
May Day

Fri 30 April – Mon 3 May

Take Friday 30 April to turn the Early May Bank Holiday into a 4-day weekend.

1
day's leave
4
days off
Spring Bank Holiday

Fri 28 May – Mon 31 May

Take Friday 28 May for a 4-day weekend. Popular with families during school half-term week.

1
day's leave
4
days off
Summer Bank Holiday

Fri 27 August – Mon 30 August

Take Friday 27 August for a 4-day weekend - the last long weekend before the Christmas break.

1
day's leave
4
days off

Download your free 2027 planner

No sign-up. No email address. A free, ready-to-use Excel spreadsheet
with 2027 UK bank holidays already filled in.

Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) · Free · You will be asked to accept terms before downloading

This template is provided free of charge. No technical support is offered or implied.

Getting started with the Leave Planner

Download the file

Click the download button above. Save the spreadsheet and open it in Microsoft Excel (unfortunately Mac Excel does not work with the formulas we have used). There's no macros so you can just start using it.

Add employees

Enter each team member's name onto the rows on the Calendar sheet. Setup leave entitlements on the Calculations sheet to configure leave entitlements per employee. The Codes and Settings sheets let you configure custom leave types, fractional day values, and configure other options.

Start tracking leave

Enter leave codes on the calendar. Balances update automatically and the yearly summary gives you a full picture at a glance. Conditional formatting rules ensure codes are coloured correctly based on the type of leave.

Built for UK businesses
  • 2027 England & Wales bank holidays pre-filled - 8 public holidays already entered in the calendar
  • Statutory 5.6 weeks minimum supported - set any entitlement amount to match your policy
  • Pro-rata for part-time workers - enter any decimal entitlement (e.g. 22.4 days for a 4-day week)
  • Flexible fractional days - half days and other fractions are controlled by the value assigned to each code on the Codes sheet. No complicated IF statements - the formulas are kept simple so anyone can use them
Outgrowing the spreadsheet

When you need more than a spreadsheet

We love spreadsheets and they're perfect to get you started with tracking staff leave. But many customers soon outgrow them as teams get bigger and more remote. That's why we built Simple Leave - to give growing teams a better way to manage leave without the hassle of spreadsheets. If you find yourself needing a simple approval system, detailed reporting, or a shared calendar that everyone can access across multiple devices then give Simple Leave a try. It's free for teams of up to 5 people so you can get started with your 2027 data and see if it's a good fit for your team before the year starts.

  • Staff book leave themselves — no chasing
  • Approvals done in seconds
  • Shared calendar, always up to date
  • Holiday balances accurate at all times
  • Automatic confirmation emails
  • Free for teams of up to 5 people
Start your free 2027 trial →

Free for up to 5 employees. No credit card required.

Frequently asked questions

Yes, completely free. No sign-up, no email address, no credit card. Click download and the .xlsx file comes straight to you. You can use it as many times as you like and share it with your team.
The planner supports up to 100 employees out of the box. More rows can be added if you are comfortable making your own spreadsheet amendments - but please note we cannot provide support or guidance for any customisations you make.
Yes. All England and Wales bank holidays for 2027 are pre-filled in the calendar and highlighted automatically. If you're based in Scotland (9 bank holidays) or Northern Ireland (10 bank holidays) you can add the additional dates manually.
Yes. To add a new leave type you only need to update the conditional formatting rules with your new code. All balance calculations and totals update automatically - no formula changes required. Note: this template is designed for Microsoft Excel and is not compatible with Google Sheets.
Yes - half days, quarter days, or any other fraction are all supported. Fractional day values are controlled by the value you assign to each leave code on the Codes sheet (for example, set a "Half Day AM" code to 0.5). The formulas are deliberately kept simple - there are no complicated IF statements to maintain. Hours-based tracking is not supported. For part-time workers, set their entitlement to the pro-rata equivalent in days - use our annual leave calculator to work out the right amount.
No. This template is a free download provided as-is, with no warranty and no technical support of any kind. We cannot help with setup, customisation, formula errors, or any issues you encounter. If you need a fully supported leave management solution, Simple Leave includes customer support as standard.
When you need employees to book leave themselves, automated approval workflows, email notifications, or any kind of reporting. Simple Leave is free for your first 30 days - plenty of time to try it properly - and from £0.60/employee/month after that. We can also help you import your existing spreadsheet data so switching is straightforward.
Most HR teams and office managers set up the next year's planner in October or November - once annual leave entitlements are confirmed and before the Christmas period. Starting early means you can enter any carry-over days from 2026, configure individual entitlements, and have everything ready from day one of the new leave year.
On the Calculations sheet, add each employee's carry-over amount to their 2027 entitlement total. If you prefer to show carry-over separately, add it as a second entitlement line per person. Most UK employers cap carry-over at a fixed number of days — check your company policy and any contractual terms before filling this in. The statutory default is that untaken statutory leave cannot generally be carried forward unless specific conditions apply, such as an employee being unable to take leave due to illness or family leave.
Yes — they are completely separate .xlsx files with no link between them, so there is no conflict. Many teams keep both open during the handover period (typically November through January), recording leave that spans the year boundary in the correct file. Once the 2026 leave year is closed, archive that file and work from the 2027 planner alone.