With summer officially over and autumn rolling in, the days are getting noticeably shorter. 

It means that it won't be long before the clocks go back, giving us an extra hour of daylight throughout the winter months. 

But what date do the clocks change this season in the UK, and why?

Here's what you need to know...

What date do the clocks change this autumn?

The clocks will change on Sunday October 31 2021 in the early hours of the morning. 

In the winter months, the clocks always go back to give us another hour of daylight - not to mention an extra hour in bed! 

Every year the clocks go back on the final Sunday of October in the UK, with the change coming into effect at 2:00am. 

It means we are reverting back to GMT, which stands for Greenwich Mean Time and is the standard time against which time zones in other areas of the world are measured.

Meanwhile, BST stands for British Summer Time and is the time zone referenced when the clocks go forward in spring. 

The BST is GMT+1 hour. 

The changing of the clocks this October marks a move away from BST and therefore signifies the offical end of British summer time.  

Clock changes take place on the weekend in order to try to limit the disruption to school and every day life. 

When will the clocks go forward in 2022?

The clocks will go forward again in March 2022 in order to make the most of the long hours of daylight.

Like in autumn, the change will take place on a Sunday to avoid too much disruption. 

Next year's change will take place on Sunday March 27 2022, marking the start of BST. 

The clocks going forward means we lose an hour, however we gain this back every autumn when they go back again. 

Why do we change the clocks?

The principal reason we change the clocks is to get the most out of the daylight. 

The first clock change was introduced by the German government in 1916 during the first world war as a means of saving energy - the longer the daylight hours lasted, the less electricity required. 

Many European governments followed suit, including Britain, and so was born BST, with the current system in place since 1971.