Bank holidays and extended weekendsTips to make the most of bank holidays in 2020
Our colleagues at RTL 5Minutes have examined the 2020 calendar to find the best combinations to make the most of your leave and bank holidays.
In total, there are eleven bank holidays over 2020. So if you’re planning on being tactical with booking leave, you can maximise your time off to benefit from long weekends between 1 January and 26 December. 2019 was an especially good year for days off, but four of the eleven bank holidays in 2020 fall on Saturdays or Sundays.
Thankfully, the Labour Code obliges employers to provide an additional compensationary day of leave in the next three months if a bank holiday is on a Sunday or a day of the week when employees wouldn’t have worked.
Including Easter and Whit Monday, the calendar offers four three-day weekends, as both 1 May and Christmas Day are Fridays. There are also two possibilities to take a bridge and have four days off, due to Ascension on Thursday 21 May and National Day on 23 June.
Below is a visual aid to help you benefit and book leave.
The first bank holiday to make the most of is Easter Monday, which guarantees a three-day weekend...or more if you book additional leave. Remember that school holidays are from 4 to 19 April.
May - the month of the bridges? Unfortunately not this year as 9 May is on a Saturday. You’ll still have a three-day weekend at the start of the month, and you could book Friday after Ascension off.
Half term is from 30 May to 7 June, so Whit Monday’s an opportunity to spend some time with the kids!
Sadly, no bridge or long weekend in August. But you can watch the Olympics to cheer your spirits!
Foiled again in November! The school break is from 31 October to 8 November.
In December, Christmas will be at the weekend. Enough time for a getaway?
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The list of legal bank holidays in 2020:
- Wednesday 1 January
- Monday 13 April (Easter Monday)
- Friday 1 May (Mayday)
- Saturday 9 May (Europe Day)
- Thursday 21 May (Ascension)
- Monday 1 June (Whit Monday)
- Tuesday 23 June (National Day)
- Saturday 15 August (Assumption)
- Sunday 1 November (All Saints)
- Friday 25 December (Christmas Day)
- Saturday 26 December (St Stephen’s Day/Boxing Day)
