Job worries turn gap years to snap years

Financial concerns and worries about jobs mean graduates are forsaking the traditional gap year for a "snap year" lasting an average of just five weeks, according to new research.

Insurer LV said 2.75 million Britons intend to take an extended overseas break in the next 12 months to volunteer, go backpacking or take a sabbatical.

However, only eight per cent plan to be away from home for four months or more and most will give themselves just five weeks to expand their horizons.

Young travellers in particular, including graduates, are shunning longer breaks because they are worried that after splashing out on seeing the world, they will not be able to find employment when they return to the UK.

The research also indicates that gap years, which were once seen as a rite of passage for university leavers, are now becoming the preserve of people who are already working or even approaching retirement.

Taking a sabbatical is, for example, increasingly common with over-50s on higher incomes and around 1.6 million people in this group have taken a so-called "grey gap year" since 2006.