There are eight bank holidays in England and Wales next year and you can use them to your advantage to extend your holiday allowance.

Emma Coulthurst, travel commentator at TravelSupermarket explains the steps to take:

Easter: turn four days into 10

Good Friday falls on 10^th April with Easter Monday on the 13^th. You need to book the following days holiday: Tuesday 14^th April until Friday 17^th April. These four holiday days mean you’ll have 10 consecutive days off from 10^th – 20^th April.

Christmas: turn seven days into 16

Christmas Day sits on a Friday so with Boxing Day falling on a Saturday, you get Monday 28 December off too. You can also use Friday 1 January 2021 to your advantage.

To enjoy 16 consecutive days off, you need to book the following holiday dates: Monday 21^st to Thursday 24^th December, followed by Tuesday 29^th December to Thursday 31^st December. That way you’ll head back into work on Monday 4^th January 2021.

Other bank holidays

There are three other bank holidays that you can use to gain extra leave. These are Friday 8^th May, Monday 25^th May and Monday 31^st August.

By booking Tuesday 4^th May to Thursday 7^th May, you’ll have nine days off in total.

If you have more annual leave spare, you can also take four days off in late May or August to tie in with the bank holidays to extend your holidays.

Coulthurst said: “It might seem a bit keen to start thinking about your 2020 holidays now. But if you want to maximise your annual leave to its full potential, you’ll need to be first out of the booking blocks.

“So, as soon as your new annual leave year opens, book what you want as quickly as you can to avoid clashes with other colleagues.

“It might not be possible to get both Easter and Christmas off, but there’s no harm in trying. Good luck.”