SUMMER is coming to a close as the UK begins the transition from the bright, sunny months to the much cooler autumn and winter seasons.
And with that, comes a change to the clocks as in just a matter of weeks we will swap British Summer Time (BST) for Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). But why do clocks go back earlier this year?
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Why do the clocks go back earlier this year?
If you pay attention to when clocks go back in the UK, you’d know that the change usually takes place in the last few days of October.
This year however, we will gain an hour on Sunday, October 25, with the clocks changing to Greenwich Mean Time at exactly 2am.
And although that may seem at least a couple of days early, it’s because the change always occurs on the last Sunday of the month.
So because the 25th is the fourth and final Sunday of October, that is exactly when we will gain an hour of sleep in 2026.
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This won’t be the case in the next couple of years, with the final day of British Summer Time falling on October 31 in 2027, and then October 29 in 2028.
When do the clocks go forward in 2027?
Looking ahead to next year, you might want to go to sleep slightly earlier than usual on Saturday, March 27.
That’s because overnight we will see the return of British Summer Time, with clocks going forward at 1am on Sunday, March 28, 2027, and resulting in us losing a full hour of sleep.
Similarly to the October clock change, the schedule is fixed and we will always change time zone on the last Sunday in March.
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And as previously mentioned, next year we will move back into Greenwich Mean Time on Sunday, October 31 at 2am.
Why do the clocks change?
The introduction of moving the clocks forward and backward dates back to 1907 when campaigns were started in Britain by builder William Willett.
He argued that moving the clocks forward in summer meant people could make better use of the daylight.
The original proposal was a complicated system, and attempts to introduce daylight saving legislation were blocked several times by the government between 1908 and 1916.
The change was finally introduced during World War I, when The Summer Time Act received Royal Assent on May 17, 1916.
The clocks went forward for the first time on May 21 of that year.