The United Kingdom is preparing to return to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), marking a seasonal change that occurs every year toward the end of October. The adjustment is part of a long-established system used to optimize daylight across the calendar year. According to Daily Record, this scheduled time change will take place during the early hours of a Sunday, as is customary.
In 2025, the official transition will happen at 2am on October 26, when clocks will move back by one hour. The shift, while routine, influences several sectors and continues to raise questions around its long-term relevance.
A History of Strategic Timekeeping and Its Modern-Day Purpose
The concept of daylight saving is centuries old. It was first floated in the late 1700s by Benjamin Franklin, and later promoted by William Willett in 1907 — a British builder and the great-great-grandfather of Coldplay singer Chris Martin. Willett’s idea was to better align waking hours with daylight, and he spent years campaigning to make it official.
The United Kingdom didn’t implement the change until World War One, when the British Parliament passed legislation in 1916 to advance the clocks during summer months. The wartime reasoning was straightforward: longer evenings would cut down on coal usage, freeing more of the fuel for weapon and ammunition production.
In the modern context, energy savings, outdoor activity, and road safety are frequently cited justifications for maintaining the system. The government states:
In the UK the clocks go forward 1 hour at 1am on the last Sunday in March, and back 1 hour at 2am on the last Sunday in October. The period when the clocks are 1 hour ahead is called British Summer Time (BST). There’s more daylight in the evenings and less in the mornings (sometimes called Daylight Saving Time). When the clocks go back, the UK is on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
The UK will remain on GMT until the clocks jump forward again to BST at 1am on Sunday, March 29, 2026.
A Mixed Bag of Benefits and Drawbacks for Safety and Mental Health
While many people appreciate the extra hour of sleep that comes with the return to GMT, the change brings side effects — some of them serious. According to data from Zurich Insurance, the number of road accidents between 4pm and 7pm increases by 10% to 15% after the switch, due to darker evening commutes.
There are also documented mental health implications. A Danish study found an 11% increase in clinical depression diagnoses in the weeks following the end of BST. Shorter days reduce opportunities for sunlight exposure and physical activity, which can contribute to symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), along with general fatigue and lower productivity.
Critics of the clock change argue that while it may offer small advantages for evening activities, it does little to benefit early risers, farmers, or shift workers. As one group of researchers explained:
It’s an ongoing debate that strongly depends on people’s geographical location, occupation and lifestyle.
In short, the utility of shifting time is far from universally agreed upon — even within the same country.
Global Shifts: Some Countries Abandon the Practice Altogether
Roughly 70 other countries — in addition to the UK — still observe some version of daylight saving time. This includes most of Europe, North America, and parts of South America and Australasia. But the tide may be turning. Over the last decade, Azerbaijan, Iran, Jordan, Namibia, Russia, Samoa, Syria, Turkey, and Uruguay have discontinued seasonal time changes altogether.
The European Union also voted in 2019 to eliminate the biannual clock changes by 2021. That plan was delayed indefinitely due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but it highlighted growing resistance to the practice, particularly in countries where energy savings are no longer as significant as they once were.
Despite these shifts, the UK continues to observe both BST and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) — a system familiar and predictable, though increasingly contested. Whether it’s here to stay or not, at least for now, your clocks will fall back one hour at 2am on Sunday, October 26, 2025 — and GMT will once again become the standard, if only for a few months.
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