The majority of full-time employees are legally entitled to at least 28 days’ paid annual leave each year
Christmas is done and dusted and the New Year has begun.
If your 2026 diary is looking a bit empty, you might be wondering when to plan your holidays this year. The good news is, with some strategic planning, you can get 53 days off work by using just 23 days of annual leave.
This is done by booking your time off around the bank holidays and making the most of the weekends either side. The following dates only work if you work Monday to Friday and get bank holidays off.
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 it can include bank holidays.
March/April
There are two bank holidays in April for Easter. Good Friday falls on April 3 and Easter Monday on April 6. But by booking the following four days off, you could get ten days off work if you include the weekends either side and bank holidays.
- Monday, March 30
- Tuesday, March 31
- Wednesday, April 1
- Thursday, April 2
May
There are two bank holidays in May. The first is the early May Bank Holiday, which will fall on Monday, May 4, then there is the Spring Bank Holiday on Monday, May 25.
You can get 18 days off work across May by using just eight days of annual leave. You can 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 5
- Wednesday, May 6
- Thursday, May 7
- Friday, May 8
AND
- Tuesday, May 26
- Wednesday, May 27
- Thursday, May 28
- Friday, May 29
August/September
There is the Summer Bank Holiday at the end of August, which falls on Monday, August 31. You could get nine days holiday if you book these four days off work.
- Tuesday, September 1
- Wednesday, September 2
- Thursday, September 3
- Friday, September 4
December
There are two bank holidays in December and one in January for Christmas and New Year. Christmas falls on a Friday this year, while Boxing Day is on a Saturday. This means we will get a replacement bank holiday for Boxing Day on Monday, December 28.
The final bank holiday New Year’s Day and this falls on the following Friday. You can get 16 days off work for the festive season if you book off these seven dates.
- Monday, December 21
- Tuesday, December 22
- Wednesday, December 23
- Thursday, December 24
AND
- Tuesday, December 29
- Wednesday, December 30
- Thursday, December 31
