By booking paid holiday around bank holidays, it’s possible to get longer breaks without eating into your annual allowance
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The start of the new year is traditionally the time when our thoughts turn to holidays for the year ahead to cheer up the dark January evenings.
Every worker in the UK is entitled to a minimum of 28 days off each year, but it doesn’t matter how much annual leave you’re given, it never feels quite enough, although it is more than our parents and grandparents had.
The first paid leave was introduced in the UK in 1939 in the Holidays With Pay Act, which gave every worker a minimum of one week’s annual paid holiday. By the 1950s two weeks were common and by the 1980s most people had at least four weeks of annual holiday.
Read more: 23 money-saving tips to get 2023 off to a good start
The law relating to annual leave today is contained within the Working Time Regulations 1998, which gives all workers a minimum of 5.6 weeks (or 28 days) annual leave, although this can include the eight bank holidays we normally have every year. The law also sets out that a part-time employee is entitled to the same amount of time off pro-rated to their working hours.
If you work part time, calculate the percentage of full-time hours that you work and apply that percentage to the 28 days, or you can use the Government's leave calculator here to work it out for you.
There are usually eight Bank Holidays every year, although this year, there is an additional bank holiday on Monday, May 8 to mark the Coronation of King Charles on Saturday, May 6. Extra bank holidays are sometimes announced, such as last year to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee on June 3 and the Queen's funeral on September 19, the last time an annual day was given was in 1978, when first Monday in May was made a bank holiday. Prior to that, New Years Day was made a bank holiday in 1974.
Regardless of how much time off you get, there are ways and means to use your annual leave strategically by tacking days off onto bank holidays and weekends. So, new diaries out and get planning. Of course, you're unlikely to be able to take advantage of all of the opportunities unless you want to risk the wrath of your fellow workers, but making the most of a couple of weekends will help you make the most of your entitlement.
The full list of this year's bank holidays is below and we'll look how you can make the best use of them, assuming that you have weekends off as standard.
Easter
Days away from work: 10 (April 1-10)
Annual leave days needed: 4
To make the most of the Easter bank holiday, take the four days off that run up to Good Friday. You will then have an additional four-day weekend, including Good Friday and Easter Monday. Add this to the weekend off prior to your four days' leave, and you get 10 days away for the price of four.
Early May bank holidays
Days away from work: 10 (March 29-April 8)
Annual leave days needed: 4
Tag four days leave onto the first May bank holiday which falls on Monday 1. This will run into the King’s Coronation weekend, marked by another bank holiday on May 8. This will give you another 10 days away for the cost of four.
May and June 2023
Days away from work: 9 May 27-June 4)
Annual leave days needed: 4
There's yet another bank holiday ion May, with spring bank holiday falling on on Monday 29. Add on May 30 and 31 and June 1 and 2 and you get a nice nine-day break but only use four days leave.
August
Actual days away from work: 9 (August 26-September 3)
Annual leave days needed: 4
Add four days of annual leave onto the Monday, August 28 bank holiday and you'll get another nine-day break.
Christmas
Actual days away from work: 10 (December 23-January 1)
Annual leave days needed: 3
This year, to make the most of the festive season, you'll only need to take three days of annual leave. Christmas Day falls on a Monday, so it’s automatically a bank holiday, as is Tuesday 26 – Boxing Day. Because New Year’s Day in 2024 falls on a Monday too, you only need three days of leave (Wednesday 27, Thursday 28 and Friday 29) to stay out of the office office until January 2.
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