You can maximise your time off by booking your annual leave around the bank holidays and making the most of the weekends either side
If jetting off somewhere exotic is top of your to-do list for 2025, then we’ve rounded up all the ways to maximise your annual leave.
The majority of full-time employees are legally entitled to at least 28 days’ paid annual leave each year. This is the equivalent of 5.6 weeks of holiday and can include bank holidays. But with a bit of strategic planning, you can get 59 days off work by using just 27 days of annual leave.
You can do this by booking your annual leave around the bank holidays and making the most of the weekends either side. Keep in mind these following dates only work if you’re employed Monday to Friday and you get bank holidays off.
April
There are two bank holidays in April to mark Easter. There is Good Friday on April 18 and Easter Monday on April 21. But by booking the following set of four days off, so eight days annual leave in total, you could get a whole 16 days off work if you include the weekends.
- Monday, April 14
- Tuesday, April 15
- Wednesday, April 16
- Thursday, April 17
AND
- Tuesday, April 22
- Wednesday, April 23
- Thursday, April 24
- Friday, April 25
May
There are two bank holidays in May. The first is the early May Bank Holiday, which will fall on Monday, May 5, then there is the Spring Bank Holiday on Monday, May 26. You can get an impressive 18 days off work – again, including weekends – in total across May by using just eight days leave. You’ll get nine days off in a row by booking days off around the first bank holiday, then another nine days for the second bank holiday.
- Tuesday, May 6
- Wednesday, May 7
- Thursday, May 8
- Friday, May 9
AND
- Tuesday, May 27
- Wednesday, May 28
- Thursday, May 29
- Friday, May 30
August
There is the Summer Bank Holiday at the end of August, which falls on Monday, August 25. You could get nine days holiday if you choose to book these four days off work.
- Tuesday, August 26
- Wednesday, August 27
- Thursday, August 28
- Friday, August 29
December
There are two bank holidays in December and one in January for Christmas and New Year. December 25 is on a Thursday next year, while December 26 is on Friday. The final bank holiday is January 1 and this falls on the following Thursday. You can get 16 days off work for the festive season if you book off these seven dates.
- Monday, December 22
- Tuesday, December 23
-
Wednesday, December 24
AND
- Monday, December 29
- Tuesday, December 30,
- Wednesday, December 31
- Friday, January 2
