Maternity leave and pay because; ‘you must be looking forward to a rest…’

I used to love this little gem of a comment. Usually from the mouth of those blissfully child free, where weekends really do mean lie-ins and leisurely lunches and not little people waking you up at 5.30am demanding chocolate for breakfast and babies that want to use you as an all night buffet.

Maternity leave is amazing, rewarding, draining, scary, emotional, exhausting, relentless, exhilarating and so much more. But relaxing? Erm no. (Seriously, is it ever possible to relax ever again once you have kids? I swear I sleep with one foot on the ground, ready to leap into action at any given moment).

Entitlement to leave

Providing the correct notice is given (you must inform your employer of your pregnancy no later than 15 weeks prior to your due date), all employees with an employment contract are entitled to maternity leave, regardless of length of service. (You’d hope so right, imagine waddling into work the day after giving birth?!)

As I outlined in my last post, you can start your maternity leave anywhere between week 29 and your due date. If you have your baby earlier than expected, maternity leave will start automatically the next day.

Length of leave

Statutory Maternity leave is for a total of 52 weeks, made up of:

26 weeks Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML) followed by;

26 weeks Additional Maternity Leave (AML).

Now it’s important to highlight the difference between the two here, as the length of leave you take can affect your rights when returning to work.

At the end of OML, you have the right to return to your old job. Same conditions, same job, done. If you take extra maternity leave on top of this, known as AML, you have the right to return to your old job, unless your employer can argue that it is not reasonably practical for this to happen in which case you must be offered an appropriate, similar position, on no less favourable terms.

When you start your maternity leave, the last thing you want to think about is when you will return to work. And to be honest, you don’t have to. Well not yet anyway. Unless you state otherwise, employers should automatically assume you will take the full 52 weeks leave. Obviously, if like me, you need at least some money to save you scavenging in bins to feed your family, then you might want to return to work earlier than this, maybe once statutory pay ends at 39 weeks.

If so, you must ensure that you give your employer no less than 8 weeks notice of your intended return date. Of course if you are 100% sure of your return date from the get-go, you can tell your employer sooner than this, but often its best to wait and see how you feel (or how much you are willing to financially sacrifice once you have the little person that you created tugging at your heart strings).

Maternity pay

Now this is one that really does depend on your contract, length of service and your employers maternity policy. Some generous employers will offer what is known as ‘enhanced’ or ‘occupational’ maternity pay. This is pay over and above the statutory entitlement. It’s best to check your contract and company policy to find out if you are one of these lucky employees!

If not, you might qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP). To be eligible,  you need to “have worked for your employer continuously for at least 26 weeks continuing into the ‘qualifying week’ – the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth.” Eh? Basically you will need to have at least one weeks’ service on day one of your pregnancy. You will also need to earn on average at least £113 a week and have given your employer the correct documentation.

This is essentially a piece of paper given to you by your midwife around 20 weeks pregnant (sometimes a bit later) called a MATB1 form. This is basically ‘proof’ of your pregnancy (as if the rotund tummy and pale I-think-I-might-throw-up face wasn’t enough to convince your boss right?)

Statutory pay is paid for 39 weeks as follows:

90% of your average weekly pay for the first 6 weeks, followed by either ‘flat rate’ SMP (£145.18 per week from 1st April 2018) or 90% of your average weekly pay, whichever is lower, for the following 33 weeks. (The remaining 13 weeks of maternity leave are unpaid).

A handy tool for calculating your maternity pay and leave dates can be found here.

If you are not eligible for SMP (for example because you haven’t been employed long enough) your employer should give you an SMP1 form, explaining why you are not eligible. However you may still qualify for Maternity Allowance. To find out more about this and whether you are eligible, you can contact the Department for Work and Pensions, who will be able to offer advice (more info on this here).

It’s worth noting that some companies might have different eligibility criteria when it comes to enhanced maternity pay (eg you will have to have worked in for the company for 2 years before you qualify etc).

Keeping in touch (KIT) days

Whilst on maternity leave, you can work up to 10 days, paid, without your statutory pay being affected. Contrary to popular belief, these keeping in touch days are optional, on both sides – both you and your employer must agree to them.

Accruing annual leave

So the good news is, you will continue to build up annual leave whilst on maternity leave. Happy days. You can also carry it over to the following annual leave year if you have been unable to take it. Even happier days (or happy holidays one might say).

Returning to work

Eeek, the big one. I always think returning to work after maternity leave can feel like one of those dreams where you go back in time, maybe to your childhood home or old school or something. Except this time it’s real life. Yep you really do have to go back to work.

Whether you are enrolling your baby into nursery or you have family members stepping in to help out, leaving your baby to go back to work for the first time can be daunting. Therefore it’s best to be prepared and know what options you have. (Rest assured though, in all likelihood, you will be spending more time checking your phone just in case nursery have called or worrying whether granny has remembered that the baby always has his toy elephant to sleep with, than the amount of time your baby will spend crying for you).

Obviously it is best to plan ahead when it comes to nursery places especially if you are keen on your little one going to that coveted nursery with an outstanding Ofsted report where they only offer home grown vegetables, fresh from their vegetable patch for lunch. Sounds ridiculous, but get your baby’s name down as soon as they are born, some parents even do this as soon as they found out they are expecting!

Some potential options to explore for your impending return to work are listed below:

Flexible working

If you worked full time pre baby, you might want to explore the option of reducing your hours. All employees have the right to request flexible working (whether your employer agrees to it or not is another matter – I will cover this in a separate post).

Many companies will have a flexible working policy and their own application forms so speak to your HR department. If not, requests can be made using the standard forms, downloadable via this link.

Phased return

Again, something your employer will need to agree to, but why not consider using some of that accrued annual leave for a gradual return. Alternatively, if you have not used your KIT days, these can also be used to ease you back into work.

Parental leave

If you have been employed for more than a year (chances are, if you are returning from maternity leave you will have hit this milestone) then you are entitled to a total of 18 weeks parental leave up to your child’s 18th birthday ( a maximum of 4 weeks per year). Leave is unpaid and must be taken in full blocks of one or two weeks (although there are exceptions to this if your child is disabled or if your employer is happy to agree to a different arrangement).

Ok so that’s the basics covered. I will leave it there to avoid running the risk of boring you off, (I’ve skirted a fine line, I realise) but do let me know if there is anything else I haven’t covered.

Much love

Kayleigh x

The Beginning – A pregnant employee

I thought the title of my first blog post was apt because, well it’s the beginning of my blogging journey. With this site I hope to be able to share my knowledge of employment law, employee rights as well as my own experience with anyone who is:

a. Employed

b. A parent/parent to be

c. Remotely interested

First things first then, you’ve had those two important lines pop up. (Maybe more than once if you are like me and insisted on doing at last 5 tests each time just to ‘make sure’). You’re delirious with happiness, whilst simultaneously panicking about how you will cope. You are already dreaming of baby names and looking at the cute baby clothes in Next and then, oh… Yeah. Work.

Being pregnant whilst working is hard. For many reasons. Obviously a biggie is the fact that in the beginning, you are feeling pretty ropey to say the least. I actually remember running to the loo mid-meeting to gag because someone had selfishly fired up the coffee machine (seriously, the pregnancy/coffee aversion really was quite a thing for me). However it can also be difficult if you are unsure of your rights as a pregnant employee. Obviously there is a lot that will depend of your contract, the type of contract you have and how long you’ve been employed. But there is some stuff that is all encompassing. For everyone.

Time off for antenatal appointments

Pregnant employees are entitled to reasonable paid time off for antenatal appointments. Whilst this doesn’t include the obligatory trip to Mothercare immediately proceeding your 20 week scan to stock up on the all important pink or blue (or yellow, or grey or green – gender neutral and all that) it does include travel time. Or sitting in the waiting room nervously twiddling your thumbs waiting to be called in, time. There is a cap at 6.5 hours but unless you’re planning to fly to LA for specialist consultant care that you saw on the Kardashians, this should cover it.

Fathers are also now entitled to time off, however this is unpaid.

Its worth noting that this time off, as long as on medical advice, can cover things such as relaxation classes, aqua natal, yoga etc (I know right, who knew?)

Telling your employer

By law, you need to pluck up the courage to tell your boss you’re pregnant no later than the 15th week before your baby is due. So basically 25 weeks pregnant. It’s important that you do this if you are wishing to take maternity leave and/or claim Statutory Maternity Pay (more about this to follow in a separate post).

Obviously if you are like me and look about 6 months pregnant at 6 weeks, you may not be able to style it out this long. However most employees in my experience do wait until the all important 12 week scan.

Pregnancy related sickness

If you can’t drag your head out of the toilet to make it into work- fear not! Any sickness which is related to your pregnancy must be recorded separately by your employer from other sick leave and cannot not be used to count towards sickness triggers or disciplinary action. One thing worth noting though, is if you are off due to pregnancy related sickness in the 4 weeks prior to your due date, your employer can make you start your maternity leave early.

Risk Assessment

Once you have informed your employer of your pregnancy, they have a duty to carry out a risk assessment to ensure the safety of you and your baby in your working environment. Risks may include; heavy lifting, standing for long periods, exposure to toxic substances or long working hours. If risks are highlighted then an employer should take reasonable (there’s that word again) steps to remove them. If risks cannot be removed then suitable alternative work should be offered. Last resort would be to suspend you on full pay if no alternative can be found, but in my experience, this rarely happens as employers would much rather their employees get paid to do something, rather than sit at home eating their body weight in chocolate, watching back to back Teen Mom OG*.

Maternity Leave

When you choose to finish work will probably depend on a number of things. Firstly the type of job you have. My role largely involved sitting at a desk, talking on the phone and waddling to meetings and seeing as I had two ‘spirited’ children at home, I made the sensible decision to stay at work as long as possible! However if you are on your feet for hours and hours each day, you don’t have any rugrats waiting at home to ebb the last few kilowatts of energy out of you, well hey you might want to finish earlier. Anytime from the 11th week prior to your due date (aka week 29 of pregnancy) is a goer.

I will follow this post with a separate one with a more in-depth look at maternity leave (I know right, don’t get too excited now), so if there is anything in particular that you would like including, please do let me know via the contact form!

Much love and thanks for taking the time to read!

Kayleigh X

 

*Or any other box set. I absolutely have not used this example based on my own experience. Obviously.