Leave planner 2027: turn a few days of leave into long breaks

Choose where you work and how many days of leave you have. The planner shows where they go furthest around 2027's public holidays and weekends, and exports the plan to your calendar. It covers every Australian state and territory, England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and US federal holidays. Some call it a leave maximiser (maximizer in the US). It is free, needs no sign-up and runs in your browser.

Plan your 2027

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Try 9 for week-long breaks.

Days you normally work

Use days of , get days off

, breaks of to days, across breaks. Days off count the weekends and public holidays inside each break. left over: no break within your limits would use them. Tick at least one working day.

Your plan
BreakDays off to bookPublic holidays in it

Planning leave as a team? Jasper's leave tools keep requests, approvals and public holidays together and show who is away on one timeline.

Ways to stretch each public holiday

For each holiday, the cheapest way to make it longer and each point where one more day of leave joins up another weekend.

How the planner works

  1. Days off. Every day outside your work pattern and every full-day public holiday for your region is a day off. Holidays that apply only in part of a region, or only to some workers, count only if you tick that option. Part-day holidays (such as 7pm to midnight) never count, because you still work that day.
  2. Breaks. A break is a run of days off where every working day inside it is covered by leave. Its length counts the weekends and public holidays inside it.
  3. Ideas for each holiday. For each public holiday we find the longest break for 1, 2, 3 and more days of leave, and keep the cheapest one plus each point where one more day of leave gains at least two days off (joining up another weekend).
  4. Your plan. We pick separate breaks that give the most days off in total for your days of leave, with each break between the shortest and longest lengths you set. Ties go to the plan that uses less leave.
  5. Year end. Leave is booked only on 2027 days, but a break can run into January 2028, so New Year 2028 holidays are included.

Questions

How does the planner find the best days?

It marks every weekend day and every full-day public holiday for your region as a day off. Then it looks at every way of joining days off together by taking leave on the working days in between. For each holiday it keeps the cheapest option and every point where one more day of leave joins up another weekend. For your plan, it picks the set of separate breaks that gives the most days off for the leave you have, within the break lengths you set.

Why does the plan suggest lots of short breaks?

One day of leave next to a Monday public holiday gives a 4-day weekend, which is more days off per day of leave than a week away. If you would rather have longer breaks, set the shortest break to 9 days.

Are the 2027 dates final?

Almost all of them. These are not yet officially published, so we show the expected date and mark it "not yet confirmed": New Year's Day (New South Wales, 1 Jan 2028); Additional Day (New South Wales, 3 Jan 2028); Friday before the AFL Grand Final (Victoria, 24 Sep 2027); New Year's Day (Western Australia, 1 Jan 2028); New Year's Day (Western Australia, 3 Jan 2028). We will update them when they are published.

What about part-day holidays like Christmas Eve?

In South Australia and the Northern Territory, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are public holidays from 7pm to midnight; in Queensland, Christmas Eve is from 6pm to midnight. They matter for pay rates in the evening, but you still work that day, so the planner does not count them as days off.

Do I get paid for public holidays?

In Australia, under the National Employment Standards, employees other than casuals who normally work on the day a public holiday falls are paid their base rate for the ordinary hours they would have worked. In the UK, bank holidays do not have to be given as paid leave, and an employer can count them as part of your 5.6 weeks' statutory holiday. In the US, federal law does not require payment for time not worked, including federal holidays. Check your award, agreement or contract.

Can I plan for a part-time week?

Yes. Untick the days you don't normally work. Those days count as days off, and leave is only needed on the days you do work.

Why are US state holidays missing?

The US data covers federal holidays as listed by the Office of Personnel Management. States set their own holidays, and private employers choose which days they give off.

Does anything I enter leave my browser?

No. The planner runs in your browser and saves your settings only in this browser. A share link keeps your settings after the # in the address, and browsers never send that part to a server. "Clear my data" removes what is saved here.

Related guides

Sources

Last checked 4 October 2026. Every date comes from the government that sets it; each region's page links the source for each holiday. The UK dates come from the GOV.UK bank holidays feed and the US dates from the Office of Personnel Management.

Changes: 4 October 2026: first published.