doing casual work whilst on maternity leave

marywooyeah

I'm pretty sure you can work 10 days whilst on maternity leave

getmore4less

marywooyeah wrote: »

I'm pretty sure you can work 10 days whilst on maternity leave

thats allready been covered they are the keep in touch days with the current employer

an9i77

Ok thanks for your replies everyone. Think I will pursue voluntary work options instead, I am mainly doing it to get out of the house and because I have the opportunity to do something different for a few hours a week whilst I have my year off my usual job. Although the money would be nice I think it would be nicer to 'give something back' via voluntary work for a few months.
Presuming no one can forsee a problem with doing voluntary work whilst on Mat leave?!!

JimmyTheWig

an9i77 wrote: »

Jimmy - you are allowed to take up to 12 months mat leave by law, with the last three months unpaid.

Sorry, I didn't realise this. As my wife is self-employed it's never been an issue for us. No real benefit to her taking unpaid time off - she can do that whenever she chooses!
So the answer is to check the rules, but no-one seems able to find them. In which case I suggest you ask your employer.

an9i77 wrote: »

Presuming no one can forsee a problem with doing voluntary work whilst on Mat leave?!!

No, this looks fine. "SMP is not usually affected by voluntary work."
See http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Expectingorbringingupchildren/DG_10018741.

The following page is interesting. http://www.forparentsbyparents.com/index.html?pn=834
It's not an official source so I'd still suggest you check, but according to them if you start work for a new employer while on maternity leave your SMP will stop. But you can do self-employed work while receiving SMP. And you can work for a new employer during unpaid maternity leave, unless there is a clause in your contract limiting other work.

marywooyeah

getmore4less wrote: »

thats allready been covered they are the keep in touch days with the current employer

I'm sorry I did not realise thats what they were called, thankyou for correcting me

skintandscared_2

an9i77 wrote: »

They're not 'letting' me have the extra three months off so much as upholding a legal obligation to let me have this time off - that's quite different as it doesn't depend on their agreement. I understand that if I was doing a full time job elsewhere it would look bad, but what I'm talking about is doing a few hours of casual work somewhere else because my job is very full on, full time, not the kind of thing you can do in half measures. I don't see what's wrong with wanting to do a few hours part time in a completely different capacity, whilst still not wanting to return to my full time job at that time? They're not really losing out, they have someone else in to cover me, so she's getting my salary whilst I will be completely unpaid for three months, don't really see why this is about 'respect' (skintandscared) as no one's losing out here!

Er, no she is not getting your salary! She is getting her regular salary for doing her own job plus she's doing yours too! Been there, got the T-shirt, twice. Obviously this isn't your problem or concern and of course you are entitled to take the maternity leave you are entitled to but please don't think the lady covering for you is getting anything for it except more work!

LadyMissA

an9i77 wrote: »

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?

you can work for 10 days if you are full time at your place of work (at full pay) whilst on maternity leave

an9i77

skintandscared wrote: »

Er, no she is not getting your salary! She is getting her regular salary for doing her own job plus she's doing yours too! Been there, got the T-shirt, twice. Obviously this isn't your problem or concern and of course you are entitled to take the maternity leave you are entitled to but please don't think the lady covering for you is getting anything for it except more work!

hello? she's been recruited on a fixed term contract to do my job, on a MATERNITY COVER she doesn't have another job to do. She gets employed to do the job I was doing and only that job, on my salary, for the period of maternity leave. Jeez.......

skintandscared_2

an9i77 wrote: »

hello? she's been recruited on a fixed term contract to do my job, on a MATERNITY COVER she doesn't have another job to do. She gets employed to do the job I was doing and only that job, on my salary, for the period of maternity leave. Jeez.......

Apologies - stupidly made an assumption that set-up was similar to our place where others cover for the person on maternity leave. Stand corrected, sorry.

LadyMissA

Googlewhacker wrote: »

If your employer agrees.

'You can work up to ten days during your Maternity Pay Period (MPP) for the employer paying your SMP without losing your entitlement. These are called Keeping in Touch (KIT) days. Once you have worked for ten days and you do further work for that employer, you will lose SMP for each week in your MPP in which you do that work.'


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