
Section 21 Notice Periods: What Changes on 1 May 2026 (and What Still Applies Now)
The transition timeline, the 31 July court proceedings cutoff, new Ground 1/1A notice periods, and the technical failures that invalidate notices before they start.
Matt W. is the founder of the Working Day Calculator network and researches and maintains statutory holiday and business deadline tools across Canada, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, Singapore, and Australia. Articles are verified against official government sources before publication.
Guides and reference articles written for the UK Working Day Calculator.

The transition timeline, the 31 July court proceedings cutoff, new Ground 1/1A notice periods, and the technical failures that invalidate notices before they start.

How ACAS conciliation stops the clock, what the 2026 changes mean for time limits, and why internal grievances do not buy you extra time.

The probate-IHT deadlock, the Direct Payment Scheme workaround, instalment options, and why executors can be personally liable if they distribute too early.

The full timetable from notice to binding decision, what responding parties need to do immediately, and why the 14-day extension is a tactical lever.

All 2025/26 deadlines, the payments-on-account double hit, Time to Pay arrangements, and why 150% of your tax bill arrives on 31 January.

Statutory determination periods, the extension-of-time trap, appeal deadlines by type (6 months is not universal), and when prior approval changes everything.

The penalty escalation table, the doubling rule, first-year calculation traps, and why filing early is the only strategy that actually works.

10 working days under the Standard Conditions, CHAPS cut-offs, cross-jurisdiction chains, and why one bank holiday can consume your only slack.

Easter Monday, privilege days, half-day closures, and St Andrew’s Day: the SCTS calendar traps that a generic Scotland bank holiday list will not catch.

The 5-day threshold, clear days counting, deemed service timing, and why Scotland and Northern Ireland run on entirely different procedural rules.

253 working days, a Boxing Day substitute on Monday 28 December, and the longest unbroken stretch from late August to Christmas.

The 2026 counts by jurisdiction, Scotland's FIFA World Cup holiday, why Easter Monday is not UK-wide, and a worked example showing how one day changes a deadline.