When do the clocks change in 2023? British Summer Time begins in March

When do the clocks change in 2023? British Summer Time begins in March… but do you wind your watch forward or back this spring

• The date you need to change your clock is nearing – so don’t get caught out 
• Your smartphone will automatically update the time when the clocks change

As the days begin to get longer following a bitterly cold winter, many Brits are waiting on the clocks to go forward so spring can finally begin.  

The date you need to change your clock again is nearing, so here is exactly when you need to wind your clock this spring. 

With the clocks changing twice a year in the UK – a tradition that dates back to over a century – we are now nearing the start of British Summer Time or Daylight Saving Time.

This year, the clocks are due to go forward on Sunday, March 26.

The clocks will go forward at 1am as the UK changes to BST by going forward an hour to 2am.

No need to worry, your smartphone will automatically update the time when the clocks change on Sunday, March 26 (File image)

While this means that we may lose an extra hour in bed, it does also mean that we are one step closer to enjoying balmy spring weather – meaning that summer is just around the corner.

Our days will extend longer as there will be more daylight in the evenings and less in the mornings.

Towards Christmastime and the end of January, temperatures plummeted to almost -10C in some parts of the UK and some Brits even experienced a white Christmas.

The UK Health Security Agency was also forced to issue a cold weather warning for England at the beginning of the year. 

And it looks like Spring is not quite on the cards just yet as the Met Office has now issued a notice on a major Sudden Stratospheric Warming (SSW).

Forecasters have issued the notice which means that many parts of Britain will see ‘rapid warming occurs high up in the stratosphere’, according to the weather service.

This will also have consequences in our weather down on the surface in the weeks that follow – causing a blocking of high pressure for early March. 

And the forecaster has also warned of a cold snap – with a possibility of snow and wind combining together to cause disruption across the UK this month – which may mean that Spring will come later this year. 

BST will end on Sunday, October 29, where the clocks will move back to GMT.

It means an extra hour in bed for your Sunday lie-in and will give an extra hour of daylight as the dark nights roll in. 

Will my phone automatically update with the time?

Your smartphone will most likely change the time for you automatically. 

Most digital devices these days – including phones, laptops, smart watches – will update the time when the clocks change. 

Why do the clocks in Britain change? 

The time change was first introduced by an Edwardian builder called William Willett in 1907, after noticing that during the summer people were still trying to sleep once the sun had risen.

He introduced the clock change as a means of getting people to stop wasting daylight hours.

Following this, British Summer Time was introduced in 1916 as an Act of Parliament.

And over the last century, the clocks have moved forward each year in March. There have been only a few exceptions as to when they have not, such as during the Second World War. 

When does Spring actually start?

How you decide the start of Spring ‘depends on whether you are referring to the astronomical or meteorological spring’, according to the Met Office.

The meteorological calendar, which is the one that is more commonly used is based on our annual temperature cycle and it clearly defines the seasons according to their months. 

Meanwhile, the astronomical seasons refer to the position of Earth’s orbit in relation to the Sun, considering equinoxes and solstices. This makes it easier for meteorological observations and for forecasters to compare seasonal and monthly statistics.

According to the meteorological calendar Spring will start on March 1 and end on May 31. The astronomical calendar however says that Spring starts on March 20 and ends on June 21.

Numerous studies have also linked the start of daylight saving time in the spring with a brief spike in car accidents, and with poor performance on tests of alertness, both likely due to sleep loss (File image)

Which countries change their clocks like the UK?  

More than 70 countries around the globe change their clocks. 

All countries in the European Union change their clocks twice a year like Britain.

Some other countries outside of Europe observe the same practice, like New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Paraguay, Cuba and Haiti, that make the switch twice a year.

The United States has done the same for years however in 2022 the U.S. Senate passed legislation that will see daylight saving time remain permanently starting in 2023.

Will the UK ever stop changing its clocks? 

While some may think it’s a good idea to make the most out of our daylight, many believe that the system isn’t that beneficial.

They have gone on to claim that it actually causes major problems and that people face dire consequences when the clocks either go backwards or forwards.

British charity the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) says that one of the consequences of changing the clocks is that ‘more people are killed and injured on the road because of darker evenings in the autumn and winter than would be if we abolished the clock change and adopted British Summertime all year’.

Meanwhile, in 2019, the European parliament voted to scrap Daylight Saving Time altogether. 

While the change was due to be implemented this year in 2021, an agreement couldn’t be reached when EU member states were asked whether they wanted to commit to winter or summer time.

Can time changes affect my health?

Time changes mess with sleep schedules, according to sleep researcher Dr Phyllis Zee from Northwestern Medicine in Chicago.

Researchers at the University of Padova in Italy and the University of Surrey have also found that Daylight Saving Time (DST) disrupts our sleep-wake cycle. 

Research suggests that chronic sleep deprivation can increase levels of stress hormones that boost heart rate and blood pressure, and of chemicals that trigger inflammation.

Heart attacks are more common in general in the morning, but that incident rates increase slightly on Mondays after clocks are moved forward in the spring, when people typically rise an hour earlier than normal.

Numerous studies have also linked the start of daylight saving time in the spring with a brief spike in car accidents, and with poor performance on tests of alertness, both likely due to sleep loss.

The research includes a German study that found an increase in traffic fatalities in the week after the start of daylight saving time, but no such increase in the autumn.

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