Emergency and out of hours
An emergency is something that needs to be attended to quickly because it is a danger to health or safety.
If you need to contact the council urgently when our offices are closed phone one of our emergency numbers.
Our primary focus is to continue to provide help and emergency services for people who need them the most over Christmas and the New Year.
The majority of our services will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.
Many of our services including our community hubs, libraries and housing offices and hubs will close early on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.
Find out about changes in opening hours for the following services:
Bins and recycling
Bin collections
You can find your Christmas bin collection dates by visiting our check your bin day page or you can download the Leeds Bins App.
Household waste recycling centres
You can get rid of additional waste and recycling at one of our household waste recycling centres. They are closed only on Christmas Day, Boxing Day (Friday 26 December) and New Year's Day.
Last entry is 15 minutes before closing.
Revive shops
The Revive re-use shops at Kirkstall, Seacroft and Hunslet will close early on some days over the Christmas period. For more details, call 0113 216 3310 (Kirkstall) or 0113 273 1791 (Seacroft), or (Hunslet) 0113 323 1411 or visit the Revive Leeds website.
Births, marriages, deaths, and citizenship
Our Registrars normal opening hours are weekdays, 8:45am to 4:15pm, except Tuesdays when we're open from 9:45am.
Closed days
We will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. Emergency cover will only be provided on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
Certificate orders, including Priority orders, received after Monday 22 December will be processed from Monday 5 January 2026.
Limited provision
We are open, but providing a limited service on Monday 29, Tuesday 30 and Wednesday 31 December. Priority will be given to death registrations (by appointment) on these days.
Phone lines
Our customer services phone lines will only be dealing with death registrations over the Christmas period. We won’t be able to arrange other appointments over the phone.
Online services
You can book appointments and ceremonies and order copy certificates online 24 hours a day, seven days a week throughout Christmas and New Year.
Emergencies (out of hours) death registration
Urgent death registrations out of office contact details
Saturdays
On Saturdays a registrar will be available between 9am and midday at Merrion House. If you are arranging an urgent burial we will contact you when we receive the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death from the Medical Examiner.
Phone
07935 929 085
Saturdays only
Closed days and Sundays
On closed days (except Christmas Day) and Sundays a registrar will be available to issue a burial form (green form) or to issue a 104 form to enable a body to be taken urgently out of the country.
In all cases, the registrar will only be able to assist you once the medical certificate of cause of death has been received from the Medical Examiner. The death must also be registered when collecting the certificate.
Phone
07891 279 089
Sundays, bank holidays and closed days (except Christmas Day), 9am to 10:30am
Community hubs, libraries and jobshops
All community hubs and libraries will be closed on:
- Christmas Day, Thursday 25 December
- Boxing Day, Friday 26 December
- Sunday 28 December
- Thursday 1 January 2026
Find full details of community hubs and libraries opening hours on Leeds Libraries.
City centre hub (Merrion House):
Open throughout the Christmas period, only closing on bank holidays. On Christmas eve and New Years Eve, the building will be closing at 4pm. On Saturday 27 December the building will be open for registrar appointments only.
Customer services phone lines
All phone lines will be business as usual across the Christmas period apart from the following exceptions:
25, 26 December and 1 January
Daytime phone services closed and out of hours (OOH) phone lines operating.
29, 30, 31 December
The following phone lines are closed:
- Council tax
- Benefits
- Refuse
- Large collections
- Pest control
- Blue badge
- Planning
- Antisocial behaviour unit - ASBU
- Choice based lettings - Leeds Homes
- Elections
- School admissions
- Registrars (registrars priority will be open)
Use our out of hours contact numbers for emergencies during closed days, including bank holidays.
29 to 31 December
The following services remain open but will have reduced staffing:
- Highways
- Housing general
- Housing repairs
- Adult social care
- Child social care
- Registrars priority
- Welfare support
Our phone lines will open as normal from Friday 2 January 2026.
Apply, report or pay
You can continue to use our online services 24 hours a day, seven days a week throughout Christmas and New Year, including making online payments:
Apply, report or pay onlineHousing options and homelessness
Leeds Housing Options offices (including our main office at Merrion House) and our housing surgeries at all hubs and centres will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. We will provide emergency cover on these days.
We will be open all day as usual on Wednesday 24, Monday 29, Tuesday 30 and Wednesday 31 December 2025.
Our central hub at Merrion House is open, but providing a limited service, between 9am and 3pm on Christmas Eve (Wednesday 24 December) and New Year's Eve (Wednesday 31 December). Our phone lines will stay open until 4pm both days.
Standard opening hours will start again from Friday 2 January 2026.
Emergencies
Outside of office hours we deal with emergencies only.
If you are roofless tonight call us on 0113 378 8366 and leave a message. We will return your call if your situation is urgent.
Housing repairs
| Date | What you can report |
|---|---|
| Monday 22 December Tuesday 23 December Wednesday 24 December |
All repairs until 5pm, emergency repairs only after 5pm |
| Thursday 25 December Friday 26 December Saturday 27 December Sunday 28 December |
OOH Emergency repairs only |
| Monday 29 December Tuesday 30 December Wednesday 31 December |
All repairs until 5pm, emergency repairs only after 5pm |
| Thursday 1 January | OOH Emergency repairs only |
Standard hours will start again from Friday 2 January 2025.
Leisure centres
There will be changes to leisure centre opening hours from Monday 22 December to Sunday 4 January 2026. Normal opening hours will start again from Monday 5 January 2026.
Visit Active Leeds for details of variations to Christmas opening hours.
Before you visit your local leisure centre, find timetables and pre-book your sessions on Active Leeds.
Museums and galleries
Visit Leeds Museums and Galleries for Christmas opening times for our attractions.
Planning services
The Planning services offices will be closed from midday on Christmas Eve, Wednesday 24 December 2025, until 10am on Friday 2 January 2026.
You can continue to submit applications online on the Planning Portal during this time. Your submissions will be held and not registered until Friday 2 January 2026.
The Planning Inspectorate will still be processing applications, but any new appeals submitted during this time will be registered from Friday 2 January 2026. We will ask for an extension of time for these.
Social media
Our social media team will be open to respond to enquiries between 9am and 5pm on all standard working days over the festive period.
You can use our Facebook or X @LeedsCC_Help accounts to get general help.
