How to get 53 days off work this year by booking just 23 days of holiday

THE new year is finally here so it could be time to start thinking about holidays – and if you’re smart, you can more than double your time off.

It comes as most Brits didn’t have a holiday in 2020, with a majority of the year effectively a write-off for holidays abroad and even some staycations.

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After almost a year of lockdowns due to Covid-19, many Brits will be hoping for a slightly more “normal” everyday life in a few months’ time.

And although many of us may still be working from home, it’s important to still take time off to switch off and recharge.

If you have your sights set on a much-needed break to make up for lost time, we explain how to turn 23 days of annual leave into 53 days off.

The trick works by booking around bank holidays and weekends, focusing on April, May and August this year.

You won’t actually get any more time off work – but it will feel like it as you’ll get longer holiday breaks with fewer days off used.

Keen to do it? Let’s break it down for you.

Next year, Good Friday falls on April 2 and Easter Monday on April 5.

So if you take eight days off in March and April around those days – March 29, 30, 31 and April 1, 6, 7, 8 and 9 – that will equate to 16 days’ holiday.

If you also book four days off after bank holiday Monday on May 3, you’ll get another nine-day break.

The same applies for the bank holiday on May 31, meaning you’ll get May 29 until June 6 off work.

And in August, you can maximise the August 30 bank holiday by booking off August 31, as well as September 1, 2 and 3.

Once again, this will turn four days of annual leave into another nine-day holiday.

Plus, if you’re already planning your time off for Christmas and New Year’s this year, you’ll be pleased to know that you only need to take three days off to get a ten-day holiday.

This is because Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day fall on a weekend, meaning December 27, December 28 and January 3 will be substitute bank holidays.

Before you get too excited, keep in mind this plan sadly only works if you’re on a normal shift pattern and get weekends and bank holidays off.

Your manager also has to approve any holiday requests before you get time off.

Full-time workers in the UK are entitled to 28 days paid leave a year, including bank holidays, even during the coronavirus crisis.

You can figure out how many days holiday you are entitled to by taking the amount of days a week you work and multiplying that number by 5.6.

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If all of that time off wasn’t enough, Brits can also look forward to another bank holiday in 2022 on June 3.

The additional holiday is to mark the Queen’s 70th year on the throne.

Queen Elizabeth II will have reigned as monarch for 70 years on February 6, 2022 – the first time a British sovereign will have been on the throne for seven decades.

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk