When do clocks go forward in March 2024 and do you gain or lose an hour of sleep? Here is everything you need to know

Every year in the UK clocks go forward an hour in March for spring and go back an hour in October for winter.

We are at that time of year when we are starting to see more sun and longer days following the spring equinox in the early mornings of March 20, 2024.

Here is everything you need to know about the spring clock change.

When do clocks go forward in 2024?

Our clocks are currently running on British Summer Time, also known as Daylight Saving Time, after they go forward for spring.

In the UK the clocks will go forward an hour at 1am on the last Sunday in March (March 31).

Following the clock change there’s more daylight in the evenings and less in the mornings.

Will we gain or lose an hour’s sleep?

When clocks go forward an hour, we lose an hour of sleep.

For instance, 8am becomes 9am instead.

Why do clocks go forward for the summer?

The clocks go forward due to a campaign in the beginning of the 20th century that fought to change the clocks during summer months.

The initial movement attempted to prove that by changing the clocks during the summer those living in the northern hemisphere could make the most of the earlier daylight hours.

An early advocate for British Summer Time, William Willett, who was also the great-great-grandfather of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, published a pamphlet in 1907 titled ‘The Waste of Daylight’. It argued in favour of changing the clocks in the spring and putting them back in the autumn. He died in 1915, a year before the Summer Time Act was passed in Parliament.