The aim of this work is to provide some insights into the elasto-plastic behaviour of plate girder web square and rectangular panels with centred and eccentric holes under both compression and in-plane bending moment. The numerical study was validated comparing the numerical results obtained for one simple steel plate configuration with the corresponding experimental results, obtained at the University of Padova, observing the influence of the initial out-of-plane imperfections on the force vs. displacement relationship and ultimate strength. Once validated the numerical approach, the effect of bending moment on the stability of the plate is studied and some differences with respect to the uniform compression load case are shown. The influence of dimension and position of the hole, the plate aspect ratio and the steel grade on elasto-plastic behaviour is observed. Some indications regarding the critical slenderness (at which transition from elastic to plastic collapse occurs) are given for square and rectangular plates with symmetric and eccentric holes having small, medium and large diameter.