Working during maternity leave?

[Deleted User]

How does it work??

I work full time and will be taking maternity from 31st December. I want to apply for the part time work for AQA to do up to and after the baby is born (to keep my brain active for a few hours per week).

Can you take maternity pay from one job while still working for another company?? I want to make sure everything is above board.

bexxie90

As far as I know you cannot work whilst claiming MA (Maternity allowance) I cant remember why it is something to do with being contracted where you work. I just got back off maternity leave and it would have been well handy if I could have done something other than eBay.
Bex

[Deleted User]

Oh right thanks for letting me know best not apply then. Will try and hoard things for my mini ebay empire instead then!!

Counting_Pennies_2

The updated legislation allows you to work up to 10 days whilst receiving maternity pay, however, my understanding it is with your current employer, as the intention is for them to be 'keeping in touch (KIT) days'

However, if you are employed by this other company before you go on maternity leave I would say the 10 days would apply for this company also.

The 10 days are exact days, not hours made up to be a full day, so beware of the limit.

Having said that, who enforces the legislation, I have never heard of a case of the inland revenue reversing maternity pay for someone who has worked a few days.

bigred23

My other half is on maternity leave. She was on a contract for a year aa teacher so she got maternity pay uptil march although here contract finished in Augest. So can she do 10days supply teaching and get paid for it, if it is the same school?

honeypop

No, you are allowed to attend work for up to 10 days during maternity leave, but you can't be paid for it I believe, this is why they are called 'keeping in touch' days, so you can easily return to work at the end of maternity leave and still know whats going on.

Counting_Pennies_2

honeypop wrote: »

No, you are allowed to attend work for up to 10 days during maternity leave, but you can't be paid for it I believe, this is why they are called 'keeping in touch' days, so you can easily return to work at the end of maternity leave and still know whats going on.

No I believe you can be paid, but it is at the discretion of the organisation.

buxtonrabbitgreen

I didn't know this. But perhaps it was different 15 years ago. I had a main job and a casual job some evenings in the chippie. When I was on maternity leave I carried on working at the chippie until 2 weeks after the baby was due as he was late.

Counting_Pennies_2

buxtonrabbitgreen wrote: »

I didn't know this. .

It is new legislation that came in over the last 12 months.

jap200

shelvis wrote: »

How does it work??

I work full time and will be taking maternity from 31st December. I want to apply for the part time work for AQA to do up to and after the baby is born (to keep my brain active for a few hours per week).

Can you take maternity pay from one job while still working for another company?? I want to make sure everything is above board.

It sounds from your question as if this is going to be your first baby. The reason I say that is because unless you are one of the exceptional few who give birth to a 'little angel' who sleeps well at night and doesn't suffer from evening colic, then you will be in no fit state mentally or physically to work. After all, the whole point of maternity leave is to give you time to spend with your baby and to give your body time to recover both physically and mentally.

Don't be too hard on yourself and expect too much - otherwise you are going to set yourself up to feel like a failure. I know this from my own personal experience. I am a professional working woman and thought that I could carry on as before after giving birth. Little did I know that I was going to have a very difficult and exhausting delivery, but also have a baby who didn't seem to know the difference between day and night and never slept for more than 45 minutes at a time for the first few months. Not surprisingly I was a physical and mental wreck for quite some time, so I made the tough decision to extend my maternity leave. The end result was that I felt like a failure as both a mother and a professional woman.

Sorry to sound so negative, and I sincerely hope that your experience is very different from mine - but three children later I can only wish that I had not tried to do so much in the early years and just enjoyed my babies when they were so tiny. Your career can wait a few weeks - your baby can't.

It is your own choice of course, so good luck with whatever you decide to do. Please also take my comments as well-meant advice from a 'seasoned' working mum (which of course you can choose to ignore) and I sincerely hope that I have not offended anyone by posting my views.

Baby_A

Hi, This is something I have been considering too. I work FT at present but was considering getting a few hours a couple of evenings a week in the local supermarket. Just to bring some extra cash in, allowing me to take a longer peiod of ML from my FT employer and hubby would look after the baby.

I have called the employers helpline (I work in HR so have access to these numbers), and they have advised that as long as the mum has been employed by both companies prior to 15 weeks before her due date (stated on your MATB1), which is your qualifying week then she can work for one employer, whilst claiming SMP from another. Or in some cases claim maternity pay from both companies.

Another alternative is, which is the option I am taking (depends how flexible your employer is), you can return to work for odd weeks exceeding the KIT days and claim your normal weeks pay (obviously losing any maternity pay you were due in this week).

KIT days have been introduced by the goverrnment, but with no obligation for these to be paid. This is dependent on the company's policy. My company pays you your normal day's pay for any days you work as KIT days.