Maternity allowance and KIT days

julie_b_4

Hi,

I am claiming maternity allowance and i am aware that you are allowed 10 KIT days before your benifit is effected. I rang the call centre and asked if i needed to fill out a form as i am about to do the first KIT day since i had my baby and they said no, i only needed to tell them once i do an 11th KIT day. I just wondered if anyone could confirm this, its just i have rung the official number before on something else and been told wrong thus resulting in a home visit!!

many thanks for any comments x

Oldernotwiser

Sorry, what's a KIT day?

Toomuchdebt

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

Sorry, what's a KIT day?

You beat me to it!Never heard of this.

julie_b_4

sorry, its a 'keeping in touch' day which allows you to work for an employer (if your on stat maternity allowance, the one that you worked for before having a baby) or if your self employed to do 10 days work before your allowance is effected.;)

[Deleted User]

You are allowed to do 12 KIT days without it effecting SMP or MA ie you will still be classed as being on maternity leave despite going into work for 12 days (or part days) and getting paid for them.
However that does not apply to other benefits as you will be paid for the KITS days and all income is counted for things like Housing Benefit, Council Tax Benefit, Tax Credits etc.
I'm using mine to attend a course work is arranging while I'm off, but I wont be claiming other benefits.

julie_b_4

hi shel,

thanks for that. Do you think i should double check to see if i need to fill out forms to tell them that i have done these kit days though or not get in touch with them until i have completed my allowed quota?

cheers

Chas

If you want to work a KIT day it needs to be agreed by employer & employee before you work it.

Also, you need to agree with your employer what rate of pay they are going to pay you. Your employer can offset SMP against any payment made to you, but they have to make sure that you receive at least minimum wage for that day.

Sorry if that sound complicated but basically it means that your employer doesn't have to pay you a full day's pay on top of your normal pay for a day's work.

Also, you are right in saying you are entitled to 10 KIT days.

Useful link here: http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?type=RESOURCES&itemId=1080903184&r.l1=1073858787&r.l3=1080898273&r.t=RESOURCES&r.i=1080898425&r.l2=1080898061&r.s=e

Hope this helps.

ConfusedMummy_3

I'm really hoping that someone who is self-employed and has previous experience of Maternity Allowance & 'Keep in touch days' can help me. Is there anyone out there???

From what I understand you are allowed to work 10 days during your maternity allowance period - these are called Keep In Touch days. But a day is classed as anything from half an hours work to 24 hours work - so long as it is on one day only. So basically if you only work half an hour on one day - that is one day of your KIT days used!

So if I answer an e-mail or answer a single call on one day - is that classed as one of my KIT days used? As that is not actual work, the call/e-mail may lead to absolutely nothing (If I got paid for every quote I gave or query I answered I'd be a very rich lady!!!!)

OR is it only an actual KIT day if I actually get paid. i.e. if the potential client that calls/e-mails then goes on to make a booking with me? As to make a booking the client would have to put down a deposit (I take bookings anywhere from 2months to 2 years in advance) therefore in effect I would class that as a day worked?

I really hope that someone knows about this, as it seems the 'rules' and guidelines for this are very unclear & I cannot find a straight answer!

Please help