2027 bank holiday trick to turn 24 days leave into 56 days off work

With summer now drawing to a close, many of us will shortly be making plans for 2027. And if your annual leave resets on January 1, you may well be thinking ahead about how to make the most of it.

How you choose to use your accumulated holidays is entirely up to you. Perhaps you want to spend quality time with family, catch up with friends, or simply enjoy some well-earned solitude, but whatever you decide, a clever trick could transform your standard 24 days of holiday into a whopping 56 days off work in some wonderfully lengthy stretches.

It all boils down to bank holidays and some clever planning. Similar hacks have been available in previous years but, unfortunately for some, it only applies to those who don't work weekends, and are given bank holidays off as standard, or do not have to take them as annual leave.

To begin, book Monday to Friday, January 4-8, off work to enjoy ten consecutive days off thanks to the New Year's Day bank holiday, using just five days of leave. Then in March, if you book off Monday to Thursday, March 22-25, you'll convert four days of leave into 10 days away from the office, thanks to Good Friday on March 26 and Easter Monday on March 29.

Your Easter break will then see you finish work on Friday, March 19, not returning until Tuesday, March 30. And later in the spring, there are two further opportunities to maximise your leave.

Since the Early Spring Bank Holiday lands on Monday, May 3, if you request May 4-7 off, you'll secure nine days away from the office using only four days of annual leave. You can then replicate this approach later when the Spring Bank Holiday arrives on Monday, May 31 - request Tuesday-Friday June 1-4 off work to gain another nine days with just four days of annual holiday.

The Summer Bank Holiday in England and Wales lands on Monday, August 30, next year - so you can request Tuesday-Friday, August 31-September 3 off for another nine-day period using four days of annual leave.

And finally if you request Wednesday-Friday December 29-31 off work you can secure a substantial nine days off with only three days of holiday thanks to when the festive bank holidays land in 2027. Since Christmas lands on a Saturday, with Boxing Day on a Sunday, substitute bank holidays occur on the Monday and Tuesday, December 27 and 28.

Requesting the above days off at the conclusion of December would mean you're off work from Christmas Day right through to January 3.