Bank holidays are always a highlight for employees; and if you get your planning right, they could entitle you to a few extra days off.
It’s a particularly good time to start looking at the calendar, too, given that Britons will get an additional bank holiday this year thanks to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
In February, Her Majesty celebrated 70 years on the throne - a historic milestone marking the longest reign of any British monarch to date.
Hence why a four-day weekend has been introduced in June to mark the celebrations. As well as the annual Trooping the Colour, a number of events have been announced for the special occasion, including a “platinum pudding competition”, a platinum party at Buckingham Palace, a “Big Jubilee Lunch”, and a Platinum Jubilee Pageant.
Outlining plans to stage a series of events across the UK, Oliver Dowden said in 2020 that the country will hold a “celebration to remember” over a special bank holiday weekend from 2-5 June.
To create the four-day weekend, the government said the late May bank holiday in 2022 will be moved to Thursday 2 June and an additional bank holiday on Friday 3 June will be created.
Because of the way that the bank holidays fall this year, there is a way of “hacking” your annual leave which would mean you turn 18 days into 45 days off.
For example, because of the bank holidays surrounding Easter this year, if you book off 19-22 April, this means you’d be able to go on holiday from 15 April until 24 April.
As for bank holidays, here are the dates for 2022:
| 3 January | Monday | New Year’s Day (substitute day) |
| 15 April | Friday | Good Friday |
| 18 April | Monday | Easter Monday |
| 2 May | Monday | Early May bank holiday |
| 2 June | Thursday | Spring bank holiday |
| 3 June | Friday | Platinum Jubilee bank holiday |
| 29 August | Monday | Summer bank holiday |
| 26 December | Monday | Boxing Day |
| 27 December | Tuesday | Christmas Day (substitute day) |
Read more about how to hack your annual leave for maximum holiday here.
