There is a holiday hack to make the most out of your annual leave

Are you sitting in the office ostensibly working but secretly daydreaming about your summer holiday? Us too. But as the Debrief has previously noted, you can make the most of your leave with some clever planning around bank holidays.

They've worked it out until December, and we've looked at what days to take off to double your annual leave without actually doubling your annual leave after that.

Spoiler: this is just based on clever planning around bank holidays rather than any kind of magic, and it also means you will have to be in a job where you can take bank holidays off.

Starting from September:

September 2015:

Four days off turns into nine days off around the Summer bank holiday: 1-4 September

December 2015:

Five days off turns into 12 days off after Christmas and Boxing Day: Take off 23, 24, 29-31 December

March 2016:

Three days off turns into a week off over the early Easter weekend: Take off 22, 23 and 24 March

April/May2016

Three days off turns into a week off before the 2 May bank holiday: Take off three days 29, 30 April and the 3rd May to get a week off

May 2016

Two days off turns into five days off after the May 30 bank holiday and the weekend: Take off 27 and 31 May

August-September 2016:

Take four days off, end up with nine days off after the August 29 bank holiday: 30, 31 August and 1 and 2 September

Those tweaks leave four extra days of annual leave for a holiday whenever you like - and make the most of what you already have. Remember, even if you don't manage to get all your dates approved, take heart in the fact that the UK has one of the best deals for offering workers paid leave, as the map below shows.

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