NHS KIT days

[ilod27]

I'm currently on my unpaid maternity leave and I am due to work some KIT days. I was under the impression that I got paid in full for these days, but a colleague told me today that I won't!
My boss doesn't seem to know so I was wondering if anyone here knew anything about this?
Many thanks

[flowery]

Have you checked your maternity policy?

[Sweetpotatoaddict]

As far as I know you get paid at usual rate for KIT day, minus your maternity pay. Not sure if it is just minus your stat payment or your enhanced..... Which made me less than enthusiastic to do any!!
That could just me my trust, but probably afc conditions.

[flowery]

Quick google of AfC brought up the detailed terms and conditions. Item 15.12 specifies KIT pay.

[ilod27]

Thank you both for your replies

[Nicketynac]

If you are on the unpaid part of mat leave then you get paid in full for your time. If you are still getting paid, then you lose your statutory pay but be warned - statutory pay is paid weekly so a whole week is deducted even if you only worked one day. (If one days wages is less than statutory pay then you just get the statutory pay without anything extra.)
I was caught out with this in my last maternity leave and took out a grievance against the Health Board as the local policy was so unclear and I was wrongly advised by my supervisor plus a payroll delay meant I had worked a few before it came to light. AFC doesn't explain that stat pay is a weekly amount either. Even my HR department were confused.
Most employers have some discretion about what they pay for KIT days but NHS pay is bound by law so there is no leeway.

[flowery]

"be warned - statutory pay is paid weekly so a whole week is deducted even if you only worked one day."

No. The whole point of Keeping in Touch days is that you can work without losing SMP.

[SlightlyperturbedOwl]

You can do up to 10 days paid KIT without loosing SMP pay in England. Not sure if same applies in rest of UK. You can look up the rules on the gov. website, but HR should be able to give you the written policy.

[Nicketynac]

flowery sorry I meant SMP is deducted from the amount of wages you would be expecting, so if you would normally be paid £200 for a day, one week worth of SMP is deducted from it - you would still get £200 but no SMP on top. If you earn less than SMP then all you get is SMP i.e. There is no financial benefit to working KIT days in the NHS while you are getting SMP unless you clump them together.
In my case, I ended up getting £7 extra (before tax!) after working a full day, which was not worth it once I factored in petrol and lunch. If I had paid for childcare I would have been much worse off than if I had stayed at home.
The AFC guidelines state "15.18 The employee will be paid at their basic daily rate, for the hours worked less appropriate maternity leave payment for KIT days worked."
The legal interpretation of "appropriate" payment was one week of SMP as it is a weekly entitlement and can only be paid as such. I won my grievance as my boss, myself and our HR department all thought appropriate deduction would be one day (0.2 of a week) for one day worked. Our local guidelines are now much more specific.