People who work a 5-day week in the UK are legally entitled to at least 28 days’ paid annual leave a year including bank holidays (the equivalent of 5.6 weeks of holiday). While the concept of being entitled almost a full month off each year may sound appealing, a shocking 62% of UK workers failed to use all of their annual leave in 2022 - choosing instead to be paid for any unused time off.
However, what if you could enjoy the best of both worlds? Here, Moneyzine has found the best annual leave hacks for 2024, giving you a total of 53 days off from just 25 days of annual leave (so you can enjoy some much-deserved time away from work and still get paid for unused annual leave at the end of the year, too).
2024 Annual Leave Calendar: How to Maximise Your Holiday Entitlement
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April - Monday 25th March to Thursday 28th March
This year, the Easter bank holidays fall on the 29th of March (Good Friday) and 1st of April (Monday). If you take the four days off before this, you’ll get a 10-day break with just 4 days annual leave.
If you wanted an even longer break, you could take the subsequent 4-days off too, giving you a 14-day holiday with just 8-days annual leave taken!
May - Tuesday 7th May to Friday 10th May
Another bank holiday to look out for is the Early May Monday bank holiday, which falls on the 6th May in 2023. If you book four days off after this bank holiday, you’ll get a 9-day break from the office whilst only using 4 days of annual leave.
May - Tuesday 28th May to Friday 31st May
This year, the Spring bank holiday falls on Monday 27th May. If you book the subsequent four days off as annual leave, you can enjoy another nine consecutive days off from work in total.
August - Tuesday, 27th August to 30th August
The next UK bank holiday falls on Monday 26th August, so booking the next four days as annual leave gives you, yet another nine consecutive days off work in total - perfect to enjoy the British summer!
December - Monday 23rd, Tuesday 24th, Friday 27th, Monday 30th and Tuesday 31st December
If your place of work doesn’t close over the Christmas period, booking just five days of annual leave during the festive period will give you a total of twelve days off at the end of the year, ready to kickstart 2024 with a bang!
UK Annual Leave Compared With The Rest of The World
At least 28 days’ of annual leave entitlement may sound like a relatively good exchange for full-time employment, but how does the UK measure up compared to the rest of the world?
Well, not great. Workers in Iran receive the most paid vacation days anywhere in the world, with a total of 53 days of annual leave - 26 paid leave, and 27 paid public holidays. Workers in Monaco, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, receive 40 days of paid leave - as do workers in Libya, Andorra, Bahrain, Niger, Peru, and Yemen.
“The UK is not the best country in the world for annual leave provision by far, so it makes sense for workers to make use of public holidays and weekends to maximise their time off. Holiday hacks mean hard-working employees can take longer breaks without using their annual leave allowance in one fell swoop.”Luke Eales, Moneyzine.co.uk
At the other end of the scale, the US is ranked as having the world’s worst paid leave, with zero days statutory paid leave. This makes the US the only developed country with no legal entitlement to paid leave (only Nauru, Kiribati, and Micronesia in the Pacific islands have the same policy) - instead, annual leave in the US is down to individual employers.
The average number of paid leave days by country is approximately 18.2 days. At 20 days of paid leave (and an additional 8 days paid public holidays), the UK sits just above average - but there are considerably more countries that have a higher statutory paid leave entitlement, and a higher number of public holidays.
For example, over 20 countries have a 30-day statutory holiday entitlement in place - which is in addition to any public holidays workers also are entitled to have off work as paid leave.
If you are travelling overseas on any of your breaks from work you should also be smart when picking an account for travelling. The last thing you need when trying to enjoy your well earned break from work is for it to be spoiled by unexpected costs or lack of access to banking features.
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