doing casual work whilst on maternity leave

an9i77

Does anyone know what would happen if I did some casual or temporary work duing my maternity leave? The HMRC website says that if you start work for another employer your SMP will stop but would that only apply if I started a permanent job elsewhere? I just want to find out if I can do a bit of temporary work to earn a few extra beans as I am only on SMP and my husband's job is finishing soon so there'll be two of us at home. I probably only want to do a few hours a week. I'm fully intending to go back to my 'real' job after my mat leave ends. If I did some temporary work would I have to tell my employer? If I didn't tell them is there any way they could find out (eg would it affect my tax code or something?)
Thanks

MrsManda

If you start working for another employer during your maternity leave you will lose your SMP. It doesn't matter how much you're working - if you are working for another employer then you lose the right to SMP.

At least this is how I read the guidance - there's no mention of a distinction between casual/pt work and full time work.
Even if you work for your current employer for more than 10 days during your maternity leave you lose your SMP.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Expectingorbringingupchildren/DG_10018741

If you want to work why not go back to your 'real' job?

Even if your employer doesn't find out about your second job the HMRC will know (unless you work illegally and don't pay any tax/NI) and therefore it'll come up when your employer tries to recover some of the cost of your SMP.

skintandscared_2

Can't you just end your maternity leave early and go back to work?

an9i77

skintandscared wrote: »

Can't you just end your maternity leave early and go back to work?

I'm not ready to go back full time yet and it's not possible to do my job part time (nor do I want to on a permanent basis). I just want to top up my SMP with some casual work but looks like I won't be able to. As I am taking the full year off, and the last three months are unpaid, I presume I would be able to do casual work during the last 3 months as all my SMP will have been paid by then?

an9i77

MrsManda wrote: »

If you start working for another employer during your maternity leave you will lose your SMP. It doesn't matter how much you're working - if you are working for another employer then you lose the right to SMP.

At least this is how I read the guidance - there's no mention of a distinction between casual/pt work and full time work.
Even if you work for your current employer for more than 10 days during your maternity leave you lose your SMP.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Expectingorbringingupchildren/DG_10018741

If you want to work why not go back to your 'real' job?

Even if your employer doesn't find out about your second job the HMRC will know (unless you work illegally and don't pay any tax/NI) and therefore it'll come up when your employer tries to recover some of the cost of your SMP.

PS my employer does not recover the cost of maternity pay from the government, it meets the cost itself (I don't know why it doesn't recover it but it doesn't!). So how would they know about any extra work I had done?

scooby088

Try a phased return to work, if you can do casual or part time work then surely you can do it for your current employer. I think there would be possible problems as HMRC would find out and would possibly inform your current employer.

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel

you can work 10 full days during your mat leave and not lost your SMP (for smp employer) - however, if you work 1 hour of that day they MUST pay you for the full day

Yes a new "temp" job would give you a new tax code AND it may be in your contract you are not allowed to work for another employer - mine says this and i work PT

It would be too risky imo. If you cant survive on SMP then why not just go back to work early if your husband is off? he can mind the baby

JimmyTheWig

an9i77 wrote: »

As I am taking the full year off, and the last three months are unpaid, I presume I would be able to do casual work during the last 3 months as all my SMP will have been paid by then?

I believe SMP stops after 9 months. If your employer are letting you take a further 3 months off unpaid then that's up to them. I'd check with them if they were happy for you to work elsewhere during those last 3 months.

honeypop

Mimi_Arc_en_ciel wrote: »

however, if you work 1 hour of that day they MUST pay you for the full day

I believe this is incorrect. You are not entitled to a full days pay for KIT days regardless of how many hours you work, unless that is what is agreed with the employer.

The direct.gov website says:
You will need to agree with your employer what work is to be done on keeping in touch days and how much pay you will receive.

For example, if you were only going to do half days for 'keeping in touch' then the employer may well say you will get half a days pay for that. Or they may say you will be paid hourly for however many hours you do on the day.

an9i77

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I believe SMP stops after 9 months. If your employer are letting you take a further 3 months off unpaid then that's up to them. I'd check with them if they were happy for you to work elsewhere during those last 3 months.

Thanks - not sure why it would be their business though if they are not paying me anything for that period of time.

skintandscared_2

an9i77 wrote: »

Thanks - not sure why it would be their business though if they are not paying me anything for that period of time.

The thing is, they have paid you SMP for 9 months and have your job held open ready for you for another 3 months on top of that. Plus between the time you go back and the end of the firm's "holiday" year, you will have a full year's worth of holiday to take. It's about showing them a bit of respect back really, isn't it?