How to ‘join up’ UK bank holidays to turn 28 days of annual leave into 64 in 2025

The festive celebrations are just around the corner and with many people having time off, thoughts might also turn to next year’s bank holidays: which you can ‘join up’ in order to maximise your annual leave in 2025.

Full-time workers in the UK are entitled to a minimum of 28 days paid statutory leave, however many employers offer more than the statutory minimum.

And we’ve come up with the ways to get the most time away from the office, helping you to relax and unwind without using up all your allotted days at once.

The best days to take off in England and Wales

Employees in England and Wales can get up to 64 days off by using just 28 days of annual leave, according to Go2 Africa travel expert Justin Chapman.

If you book Thursday 2 January and Friday 3 January, you’ll get five consecutive days off thanks to the New Year’s Day bank holiday. Then, in April, you can get 16 consecutive days off, Saturday 12 to Sunday 27, by booking eight days away from the office over the Easter break.

Bank holidays in May mean that if you book four days, from 6 to 9 May, you’ll get nine days off, and another four from 27 to 30, will net you the same. Despite rumours to the contrary, there won’t be an extra day’s holiday to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe. However, you can do the same thing for nine days off in the summer, by booking off 26 August until to 29 August.

By booking off six days, from 22 December until 24 December, and 29 to 31, you can get 13 consecutive days off at the end of the year. You could even increase this to a 16-day holiday, using some of 2026’s allowance and booking off Friday 2 January.

When to book in Scotland

Thanks to the addition of the 2 January and St Andrew’s Day bank holidays, you can get more time off while using fewer days. This could equate to 60 days, using just 27 days of your allowance.

Book off Friday 3 January for five consecutive days in the New Year. Meanwhile, you can get nine days off in August using four days of annual leave by booking off 5 to 8.

Book off four days in December, 2 until 5, for nine consecutive days off, in addition to booking the same days as England and Wales around Christmas 2025. 

Best times for a break in Ireland and Northern Ireland

Those in Northern Ireland and Ireland each have 10 bank holidays in 2025.

In Northern Ireland, you can use just 29 days of annual leave to get 65 days off, and in Ireland you can get 77 days off, using 33 days.

Use four days of annual leave to get nine consecutive days off by booking 18 March to 21 March. Repeat the same steps to get nine days off around the Battle of the Boyne bank holiday in Northern Ireland, by booking off 15 July to 18 July.

Employees in the Republic of Ireland can also get two further sets of nine days off using four days each time, by requesting 4 February until 7 February after St Brigid’s Day, and 28 October 28 until 31 October, after the bank holiday that month.

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