Maternity Leave

Spamii

Does anyone know anything about maternity leave ?!...

Basically my statutory maternity leave starts on 1st Feb & 39 weeks / 9 Months ends on 1st November. 

Can I take extra time off after 1st November which is still counted as maternity leave? But isn’t paid?!... 

So I have 28.5 days holiday I need to use by the 24th December. 

So I was thinking of taking 1st November until 16th or what ever it is  as additional unpaid maternity leave & then my holidays start after this. 

So I wouldn’t return to work until Jan 2022...

Have I worked this out correctly?! 

tizerbelle

Statutory Maternity Leave is 52 weeks.  Statutory Maternity Pay is 39 weeks. 

https://www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave

anmarj

You can ask to take holiday at the end of your mat leave, i did it when I was on leave. But you can take up to a year off but the last three would be unpaid on maternity leave.

Savvy_Sue

The other thing to be aware of is that if you return at or before the end of your PAID maternity leave, your employer has to allow you to return to your previous job, with a very few exceptions. If you take unpaid maternity leave then your employer doesn't have the same responsibilities - they have to try, but it's not as fixed. 

You still accrue your holidays, and if your maternity leave falls across the end of the leave year, you have to be allowed to carry forward any leave you haven't taken. Assuming your leave year starts on 1st January - and that is just an assumption - your employer might be very glad to allow you to take a couple of weeks as paid holiday before your return. 

CreditCardJunkie

Yes that is correct. I had a lot of issues getting my holiday entitlement out of my boss. What was initially agreed as a phased return to work didn't happen which was really disappointing. Yes could have went to maternity action etc but when you work for a very small company it's never a wise move. Congratulations on the baby!

mason's_mum

You can also work for up to 10 days during your maternity leave without losing any rights, if your employer agrees - (these are called KIT or Keeping In Touch Days)
https://www.gov.uk/employee-rights-when-on-leave - this could boost your unpaid section of maternity leave in addition to the holiday - I think you only have to work part of a day for it to be considered as a full paid day.

Savvy_Sue

mason's_mum said:

You can also work for up to 10 days during your maternity leave without losing any rights, if your employer agrees - (these are called KIT or Keeping In Touch Days)
https://www.gov.uk/employee-rights-when-on-leave - this could boost your unpaid section of maternity leave in addition to the holiday - I think you only have to work part of a day for it to be considered as a full paid day.

We pay for the hours worked, not automatically a full day. But it counts as a whole KIT day, you can't for example work 20 half days. 

68ComebackSpecial

Savvy_Sue said:

The other thing to be aware of is that if you return at or before the end of your PAID maternity leave, your employer has to allow you to return to your previous job, with a very few exceptions. If you take unpaid maternity leave then your employer doesn't have the same responsibilities - they have to try, but it's not as fixed. 

You still accrue your holidays, and if your maternity leave falls across the end of the leave year, you have to be allowed to carry forward any leave you haven't taken. Assuming your leave year starts on 1st January - and that is just an assumption - your employer might be very glad to allow you to take a couple of weeks as paid holiday before your return. 

That's incorrect. The change in rights comes at the end of Ordinary Maternity Leave, which is 26 weeks, though Statutory Maternity Pay is paid for a further 13 weeks during Additional Maternity Leave.

Savvy_Sue

Thanks, I'd not picked up that distinction!

Walesgirl

I started maternity leave May 2018, had paid leave until Feb 2019. I then done 1/2 kit day a week over 8/10 weeks when I was on technically no pay.  I then took 4 weeks annual leave. It meant I was still earning throughout my maternity leave