Book Your Annual Leave For 2024 Before Someone Else Beats You To It!
As the Christmas break fades into just a memory, the January Blues kick in, and we all start to regret not actually doing all the things we meant to do over the festive break, (there's never enough time is there?), so we start thinking about booking our annual leave for the coming year!
The stresses of working at least a five-day week soon mount up, and it's important to have a good work-life balance, so taking an extended break that doesn't eat up your holiday allowance is one of the best ways to take time out and unwind.
The good news is that In 2024, taking advantage of bank holidays creates numerous opportunities for those full-time workers, who don't normally work weekends, to be able to extend their bank holiday time off with these annual leave hacks and booking the minimum number of days of annual leave entitlement, to be able to take a longer break and take the maximum number of days off consecutively!
Below is a guide to the key dates to book off from work to give you the maximum number of days off work, using the minimum number of annual leave days!
Easter
March brings the first opportunity for workers to swap four days of annual leave for a 10-day Easter break by booking off the days in the run-up to Good Friday (Friday, March 29th). The 23rd and 24th of March is a weekend, so book off these specific dates: March 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th. Good Friday is a bank holiday, the 30th and 31st (Easter Sunday) is the weekend, and the 1st of April is a bank holiday, so with just 4 days of annual leave, you've got a nice 10-day break!
You could then use another 4 days of holiday, booking off April, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th as well, meaning you've only used 8 days of annual leave for all that time off!
May Bank Holiday
The early May bank holiday is on May 6th, so if you book off May 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th, you'll have then had the 4th and 5th off as they are the weekend, and had the whole bank holiday week off and the following weekend, meaning you've had 9 days off in a row, for 4 days of holiday.
There's also a late May bank holiday on May 27th, so you could book off the 28th, 29th, 30th and 31st and as the 25th and 26th are the weekend, and you'll then get the following weekend away from work as well, you've got another 9 days off in a row.
If you've used both May time off hacks, you've used 8 days of annual leave and had 2 lots of 9 days off in a row during the month!
August Bank Holiday
Monday, August 26th is another bank holiday, so the 24th and 25th are a weekend; the 26th is the summer bank holiday, so book off the 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th, then you'll have the 31st of August and the 1st of September as a weekend, meaning that's a nine-day holiday off work, for just 4 days of annual leave so that you can maximise some time off at this end of summer period.
Christmas
You can end 2024 and make the most of the festive season, with 12 days off using only five days of annual leave. Christmas Day and Boxing Day fall on a Wednesday and Thursday this year, so if you book off December 23rd, 24th, 27th, 30th and 31st, it'll give you a decent amount of time off to enjoy the festive period. You'll also get January 1st off as well, as it's New Year's Day, so that's a 12-day break, which could give you plenty of time to go and find some winter sun!
Unless you're in Scotland, the 2nd is a normal work day, but you could book off the 2nd and 3rd of January 2025, and then you won't have to return to the reality of the office until January 6th!
The only slight issue with these dates is that they may well not align perfectly with school term and school holidays! You may be able to get this extra time away from work, but that doesn't mean that the kids will be allowed to take that time away from school, so it doesn't always work perfectly if you have to factor in school holidays! Also, the bank holiday elements of the dates are often when holiday companies, hotels and attractions ramp up their prices, so again, it might be better to save your annual leave for a more off-peak time when demand for holidays is lower, and is the ideal time for being able to make a significant saving by booking then instead! This is especially relevant for your summer holiday!