Here’s how you can get 18 days off while using only nine days of holidays in 2017

Start clearing your schedule.

Most workers are currently looking forward to a few well-earned days off at the end of a hard year at Christmas. Hang in there buddy, only a couple more weeks to go. Come the first week in January, however, many of us will be desperately coming up with things to look forward to in 2017 to get us through the difficult first few weeks of the New Year. If you’re one of those who will be booking a holiday as soon as the opportunity arises in 2017, then Easter is definitely worth looking at if you’re trying to maximise the amount of time spent away from the office without overly compromising the amount of leave you’re allowed to take. With a quick glance at the 2017 calendar, the folks at Metro worked out that, with three Bank Holidays falling within a short space of each other next year, you can be off work for 18 consecutive days while only having to take nine days of annual leave. The first of those Bank Holidays falls on Good Friday, April 14, followed by Easter Monday on April 17. Two weeks later, the third Bank Holiday falls on Monday, May 1. If you take holidays on Thursday, April 13, therefore, and return to work on Tuesday, May 2, that’ll be a break of 18 days, having only used half of that amount in annual leave. All of that, of course, is assuming that you are entitled to a day off for all of those Bank Holidays and that you don’t have to work weekends. Also, it might be too late at this stage but something similar applies this Christmas if you play your cards right. As far as next year is concerned, chances are some of your fellow co-workers are already thinking of getting that Easter break booked for 2017, so best act fast to avoid disappointment.