How to count “3 clear days” — properly
Every parish and town council meeting needs public notice, with the agenda, at least three clear days before it happens. Counting those days wrongly is one of the easiest — and most consequential — mistakes in the clerk’s year, because a defectively-convened meeting invites challenge to everything decided at it.
The rule
Schedule 12, paragraph 10 of the Local Government Act 1972 requires notice of the time and place of the meeting, signed by the proper officer, at least three clear days before it. Section 243 of the same Act then tells you how to count: in computing the period, a Sunday, a day of the Christmas or Easter break, a bank holiday, or a day appointed for public thanksgiving or mourning is disregarded.
“Clear” means whole days between the two events: the day you publish the notice does not count, and the day of the meeting does not count.
So, in practice
- The day you put the notice up — doesn’t count
- The day of the meeting — doesn’t count
- Any Sunday in between — doesn’t count
- Any bank holiday in between — doesn’t count
- Saturdays do count
Worked example — an ordinary week
Meeting on Tuesday 21 July 2026. Count backwards: Monday 20 (clear day 1), Sunday 19 (disregarded), Saturday 18 (clear day 2), Friday 17 (clear day 3). The notice must therefore be published by the end of Thursday 16 July.
Worked example — the Easter trap
Meeting on Wednesday 8 April 2026, the week after Easter. Count backwards: Tuesday 7 (clear day 1), Easter Monday 6 (disregarded), Sunday 5 (disregarded), Saturday 4 (clear day 2), Good Friday 3 (disregarded), Thursday 2 (clear day 3). Publish by Wednesday 1 April — a full week before the meeting. Counting “three days back” casually would leave you four days short.
The common mistake
Much informal guidance says things like “for a Tuesday meeting, post by Friday” — a count that treats Sundays as clear days. Under s.243 they are not. If you follow the looser count you may still be lucky most weeks; across Easter or a bank holiday weekend you will not be. Publish by the stricter date and the question never arises.
Don’t count on your fingers
Our free clear-days calculator does this counting for any date, lists every counted and disregarded day so you can minute your working, and keeps its bank-holiday list up to date from GOV.UK. If you’d like the notice, summons and agenda generated and published as well, that’s the rest of ClearDays.
This guide is general information about England, not legal advice. Summonses to members have their own related requirements; certain business can require longer periods.