BANK holidays are one of the best things about British summers – and strategic planning can get you nine days off work by taking just four days of annual leave.
Savvy workers who book holiday allowance around the bank holidays get longer periods out of the office without burning through their annual allowance.
For instance, the next bank holiday is on Monday, May 27. If you book the following four days off work, you’ll get nine days off in total.
That’s because you get two weekends, the free bank holiday Monday, and the four days of annual leave all back-to-back.
The days you need to book off are:
- Tuesday, May 28
- Wednesday, May 29
- Thursday, May 30
- Friday, May 31
The UK typically has eight bank holidays a year. By booking all your annual leave around it, you could stretch your time out, allowing you to take longer vacations and get much-needed rest from work.
However, many workplaces approve holidays on a first-come, first-served basis, so it pays to be quick at snapping up the relevant days.
Even if it’s too late to take advantage of the next May bank holiday in your workplace, there are still August and December bank holidays to consider.
The summer Bank Holiday lands on Monday, August 26 this year. Once again, you can get a nine-day stint by only booking four days off.
The days to choose are:
- Tuesday, August 27
- Wednesday, August 28
- Thursday, August 29
- Friday, August 30
And you’ll need to use up even less annual leave to get a good holiday over the Christmas period this year.
There are two bank holidays in December (Christmas Day and Boxing Day), meaning you’ll be able to take nine days off using just three days of annual leave.
The dates to book off are:
- Monday, December 23
- Tuesday, December 24
- Friday, December 27
Bank holiday opening times for your fave shops
Make sure you read this before heading out on a bank holiday.
- Supermarket opening times on bank holidays
- When will my Universal Credit or child benefit be paid?
- Are banks open on bank holidays?
- Are petrol stations open on bank holidays?
- Tesco opening times on bank holidays
- Are pubs open on bank holidays?
- Aldi opening times on bank holidays
- Asda opening times on bank holidays
- Sainsbury’s opening times on bank holidays
- Is the Post Office open on bank holidays?
- Are doctors open on bank holidays?
- Are newspapers published on bank holidays?
Get all the other opening times and bank holiday news here.
Even better, you can get a whopping 12 days off work for the price of just five days of leave by booking off:
- Friday, December 27
- Monday, December 30
- Tuesday, December 31
- Thursday, January 2
- Friday, January 3
Remember, Christmas is a very popular time to take days off work, so it’s a good idea to get any requests in as early as possible.
What dates you should book off in 2025?
For 2025, you should have your eye on the Easter weekend. Next year, you can get 10 days of holiday for just four days of annual leave.
The dates to book off are:
- Tuesday, April 22
- Wednesday, April 23
- Thursday, April 24
- Friday, April 25
Alternatively, by booking off eight days of leave, you can have 16 days off in total.
You need to book:
- Monday, April 14
- Tuesday, April 15
- Wednesday, April 16
- Thursday, April 17
- Tuesday, April 22
- Wednesday, April 23
- Thursday, April 24
- Friday, April 25
Of course, this trick only works if you don’t work bank holidays, and how easy it will depend on how holiday allocation works at your employer.
Holiday Pay: Your Rights, Advice & Entitlements
Here are your rights when it comes to taking time off work:
Can my boss deny my holiday request?
As a general rule, you need to give your boss a notice period of twice the amount of time you are taking for your holiday.
For example, if you request five days of holiday you have to provide a minimum of ten days’ notice.
Your boss can force you to take a holiday at certain times of year like Christmas and New Year or bank holidays when your workplace may be closed.
Companies can also set limits on how many days in a row you can take off to stop just taking a whole month off at once.
My boss won’t let me take any of the dates off that I have suggested:
See how much time off the people you work with have taken off as well as how far in advance they let their boss know they were going to take time off.
See if they got similar treatment or if you are being unfairly treated.
You have a statutory right to your holiday and if you feel that is being infringed upon you can go to court.
Before you make a claim you need to talk to the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas).
They will try one last time to reconcile the issue, and if that fails they will give you guidance on how to make an employment tribunal claim
How do I calculate my holiday entitlement?
You can use this tool to calculate your holiday entitlement depending on your work status.
How much annual leave am I entitled to?
If you are classed as a full-time worker, then you are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave. This includes agency workers, employees with irregular hours and part-year workers.
If you work a five-day week, this works out as 28 days’ paid annual leave a year.
Part-time workers still get 5.6 weeks, but this will add up to less than 28 days and is calculated on a pro-rata basis.
For instance, if you work two days a week, you should get 11.2 days of holiday, whereas if you work 3 days, you should get 16.8 days of annual leave each year.
Employers can choose to include bank holidays within this statutory holiday, but some may offer bank holidays on top. Check your contract to see how your business works.
It’s worth getting your requests in as soon as possible as most businesses won’t let too many people off at once.
Make sure that any time off is approved before you make concrete plans or book flights, otherwise you could come unstuck.
There is no legal obligation for your employers to grant you specific days of annual leave.
What pay can I get if I work on a bank holiday?
If you work on bank holidays, your employer will have to pay you. However, a common myth is that employees must be paid more than their usual rate for bank holiday hours.
Unfortunately, companies do not have to do this, and can choose to pay you as normal.
However, some businesses and industries may choose to pay higher rates for working bank holidays to attract seasonal workers.