Get 16 consecutive days off in 2026 using just 8 days of annual leave – official MSE blog discussion

MSE_Kelvin

Afternoon,

I've written a blog about how UK workers can boost their leave in 2026 by booking it at the right time – though whether you can do it will depend on what you do, what hours you work and who you work for.

The festive season is but a bittersweet memory, and all that lays before you is the grindstone, the grim weather, and the mushroom-growing kit you got for Christmas. But the good news is that this year, if you're someone who works Monday to Friday, you can get 16 successive days off work in return for taking just eight days' annual leave. Tasty.

Read the full blog here: How to get 16 consecutive days off in 2026 using just 8 days of leave

Have a butcher's and let me know below if you're going to give it a try – or if you already have (and what you're doing with your time off, of course).

Cheers,

MSE Kelvin 🍻

lincroft1710

It would be OK if you have a personal project to complete, or are taking a long late "winter sun" break. Otherwise I can't see the point at that time of year

elsien

And if your employer allows it. 

sheramber

I would think employees would have worked that out for themselves before now. 

Johnmcl7

This is such a strange article since I've never come across anyone who wants to work out arbitrarily the longest sequential amount of time they can take off.  Instead I've always found people to find a holiday they want to do and work out the time around it.  I feel it's also misleading because you're not using just eight days holiday, you're also using public holidays which for some people count as standard holidays and are taken at other times.  There's so many caveats to even being able to apply holiday this way it just seems beyond pointless .

JCS1

No use if you work in accounts and cannot have time off first week of the month.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Johnmcl7 said:

This is such a strange article since I've never come across anyone who wants to work out arbitrarily the longest sequential amount of time they can take off.  Instead I've always found people to find a holiday they want to do and work out the time around it.  I feel it's also misleading because you're not using just eight days holiday, you're also using public holidays which for some people count as standard holidays and are taken at other times.  There's so many caveats to even being able to apply holiday this way it just seems beyond pointless .

I was lost by the phrase how UK workers can boost their leave.

It just seems to be how to use your leave in a particular way, not a boost of any sort 🤷

Murphybear

elsien said:

And if your employer allows it. 

A few years ago I worked in a big busy London Post Office.  The rules about leave were strict, we weren’t allowed to take any at all in December.  

Murphybear

lincroft1710 said:

It would be OK if you have a personal project to complete, or are taking a long late "winter sun" break. Otherwise I can't see the point at that time of year

I had a friend who had saved up for a trip to Australia.  He took 2 weeks at the end of the leave year and 2 weeks at the beginning of the next one.  it was the only way our employer would allow him 4 weeks off at a time.