People take their holidays from work for various reasons, whether they are heading off on a trip or simply taking some time to relax at home. As standard, the Government claims that most UK workers who complete a five-day week must receive at least 28 days’ paid annual leave a year – the equivalent of 5.6 weeks of holiday.
However, it can sometimes feel like time flies by too quickly, and you are back before you know it, counting down until your next break. But, figuring out some prime times to be off work can almost double what most UK employers legally give to workers.
The trick is to work around the bank holidays that are set in the UK each year – although some do move about, like Easter. So, providing that your job doesn’t require employees to work on weekends and bank holidays as standard, taking advantage of these dates before others submit their holiday requests can secure you over 60 days of paid time off in 2026 using just 29 days of holiday allowance.
You can find an up-to-date list of when bank holidays in the UK fall online using the GOV.UK website. It is split over the different nations – as England and Wales don’t follow some days off given in Scotland and Northern Ireland – and the super savvy people amongst us can already plan out their 2027 holidays as well.
Four days off at New Year
With January 1 in 2026 falling on a Thursday, booking off Friday (January 2) gives you a four-day window to recover from any Christmas and New Year celebrations before starting afresh in work on Monday, January 5. Better still, this trick only takes up one day of your leave entitlement.
Up to 16 days off at Easter
This year, Easter falls at the start of April. With Good Friday falling on April 3 and Easter Monday on April 6, people could work this holiday in a few different ways – with the most savvy able to net 16 days off work in a row for the price of eight.
People can request the four days between March 30 and April 2 off – which would grant people eight days off in a row. If they just wanted a post-Easter break, people could use 4 days from April 7 to 10, which would work out to 10 days off. Combining both of these short weeks together results in a major 16-day break in a row.
Up to 18 days off in May
One of the biggest savvy annual leave tricks comes in May which, thanks to its two bank holidays, means some people may hardly work during that month at all. By booking off May 5 to 8, you could get nine days off for the price of four because of the Early May bank holiday, which falls on May 4, with two weekends either side of your planned time off.
Then, to really maximise your relaxation time in May, people can essentially double their leave by booking the same number of days off around the Spring Bank Holiday, which comes at the end of the month on May 25. People wanting to do this should pencil in annual leave for May 26 to 29 for another glorious nine days off (including two weekends).
9 days off at the end of summer
Take advantage of some last-minute sunshine by using the August bank holiday to pad out your annual leave. It falls right at the end of the month this year, on August 31. Submit a request for September 1 to 4 as your time off, which spans from four to nine days, incorporating the bank holiday and weekend.
16 days off at Christmas
It always seems like such a long slog between Bank Holidays at the end of the year, with an almost four-month gap before one of the most competitive times of staff getting holidays off. This year, the timing of Christmas makes it a little choppy when planning annual leave.
In 2026, Christmas Day falls on a Friday, whilst Boxing Day follows on Saturday, December 26. This means the bank holiday is carried over to the following Monday, December 28.
To take time off in the days leading up to Christmas, book off December 21 to 24 December and then 29 December to 31 December. With this, you’ll have given yourself a lovely gift of 16 days away from the office while using only 7 days of annual leave.