How to turn 20 days of annual leave into 48 days holiday

Hankering for more holiday time next year? Want to squeeze in more than one break?

With some clever holiday hacking and annual leave know-how, you can strategically book your days off to maximise around public holidays and weekends. This means you can have maximum time away - you can get up to 48 days, in fact.

The minimum annual leave amount in the UK is 28 days, but for a lot of people this is eight public holidays and then is 20 days they can book off. While this might seem stingy, it’s more than a lot of countries. For example, in the USA there is no minimum and employees are lucky to get a mere 10 days off per year.

How to maximise your annual leave

So, we’ve broken down the days we think you should book for maximum holiday time in 2020. This is based on full-time employees, working Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm.

Book the days in italics off - the other days are weekends or bank holidays.

January

Wed 1 Jan

This is a bank holiday.

April

Fri 10 April

Sat 11 April

Sun 12 April

Mon 13 April

Tues 14 April

Wed 15 April

Thur 16 April

Fri 17 April

Sat 18 April

Sun 19 April

Get 10 days off for only four days annual leave.

It’s worth bearing in mind that this will also be the Easter Holidays, so bargain trips abroad will be few and far between. If you don’t have the budget for an overseas holiday, you could go camping in the UK or look at lodges and cabins.

May

Sat 2 May

Sun 3 May

Mon 4 May

Tues 5 May

Wed 6 May

Thurs 7 May

Fri 8 May

Sat 9 May

Sun 10 May

Get 9 days off for only 4 annual leave days.

Sat 23 May

Sun 24 May

Mon 25 May

Tues 26 May

Wed 27 May

Thu 28 May

Fri 29 May

Sat 30 May

Sun 21 May

Get another 9 days off for only 4 days annual leave.

Making the most of the May bank holidays means you can get a great holiday deal on shoulder season travel. Shoulder season is that bit between peak and off-peak dates, so the temperatures are still warm but destinations are less crowded and often less expensive. We’d recommend visiting Greece, Spain, Turkey, Italy or other Mediterranean hotspots over either of the May bank holidays.

August

Sat 29 Aug

Sun 30 Aug

Mon 31 Aug

Tues 1 Sep

Wed 2 Sep

Thu 3 Sep

Fri 4 Sep

Sat 5 Sep

Sun 6 Sep

Get 9 days off for 4 days annual leave.

The end of summer can be a great time to bag a last-minute bargain, as the kids are heading back to school. Try places with late summer sun like Croatia - or if you really want to treat yourself, September is a great time to visit the Maldives.