You could be eligible for an extra few days off work — for free

Have you heard of STL? (Picture: Getty Images)

We’d all love more time off from work, but annual leave only goes so far.

Some will be working hard to maximise their holidays, planning trips around long Bank Holiday weekends to get as many days off as possible.

Others will be sacrificing part of their salary to buy additional days off.

But did you know there’s a way you might be able to add a few extra days to your holiday without it cutting into your pay cheque? 

It’s all part of a scheme known as Sustainable Travel Leave (STL), but whether or not you’ll be eligible for it will depend on your workplace. 

You might be able to get additional holiday days for free (Picture: Getty Images)

What is Sustainable Travel Leave?

More than 200 workplaces and organisations around the UK are thought to be offering the travel policy, which was set up by the climate charity Possible.

If your workplace is one of those using it, you should be able to access up to two ‘sustainable travel days’ per year (pro rata for part-time staff).

But there is a catch – these days have to be used in a very specific way.

As the name suggests, you use these days to travel sustainably. So, instead of jetting off on a plane, you’ll be taking a slower, low-carbon method of transportation.

For instance, if you wanted to travel from London to Berlin without flying, you could opt to go by train, which would take nine hours by train. This is seven more hours than it would have taken by plane.

Understandably, a nine-hour journey is going to eat into your holiday time substantially, but you’d be doing the planet a huge favour, as you’d have reduced emissions for the journey by 92%.

You have to use the additional time to travel sustainably, such as by rail instead of plane (Picture: Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

How does it work?

If your company is using STL, you can apply for additional time off to make a journey like this one from London to Berlin.

How much additional time off you’re granted will be at the discretion of your employer, but most likely, you will be given the additional amount of time the journey would take.

So, in the case of the rail trip, it would be an extra seven hours of paid time off to cover the extra time required.

The way that the time is given back can vary. Some organisations give it back as time off in lieu, while others give it back as annual leave after the trip.

A few may also handle it as volunteering leave, or other types of paid leave already set up in their HR system.

How to talk to your employer about STL?

If your company isn’t offering STL, you can always pitch the idea to them as a way for the business to demonstrate its carbon reduction targets, as well as a way to benefit staff in a high-impact way, at a low cost.

They can find out more about it at sustainabletraveleave.org, where there are templates they can use to implement the scheme.

Online, many people are only just discovering the scheme thanks to a viral video shared by @sarahbmarks3, and they can’t stop raving about it. 

On Instagram, @hollyexley_illustration said: ‘Really great idea that makes perfect sense.’

While @womenover50travel shared: ‘What a great idea! The train is so much less stressful, too.’

And @gracegrangetravel commented: ‘Wow, what a great initiative! Time can be a huge barrier to travelling more sustainably, so could make a huge difference!’

‘This is amazing, hopefully more workplaces will offer it,’ added @aimlessly_wandering.

Others called it ‘brilliant’, a ‘dream’, and an ‘awesome concept’.

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