Can I have these maternity leave dates?

[PrincessHB]

Hi,
I'm due 13th January 2021, baby 3 but first as a teacher and wondering if these mat leave dates would be allowed...
Going off: I am hoping to go on maternity leave from 4th Jan when term should start back up again but basically be off from 17th Dec... I'm not sure if I can though! One colleague thinks I can, 1 thinks i cant but potentially could say I'll be back on 4th and if need be take a sick day if I dont feel up for it on the day (my cover has already started and will be shadowing until then as was a TA and now completing PGCE through year). This is obviously for financial reasons as then pay wouldn't go down to stat mat pay til the Feb.
Coming back: I had originally decided it would be better to be back for Sept start but then a colleague suggested that I ask to return for 1-2 weeks before summer holidays to then be paid through summer. I think this would also be a nice way to prep for a return. But I just cant see how that would be allowed tbf!
With my other 2 I worked in all year round FE so just did annual leave to make it work best at the time.
I havent spoken to SLT yet on this as it is all a bit mad with the return at the mo. But when this is discussed I dont also want to sound cheeky and just want to know the rules on mat leave dates beforehand.
Anyone know? I'm with NEU so could speak to my advisor. This is another post in itself though as it's looking like I've got to keep paying full union fees through mat leave which someone told me I wont have to...

[tappbar]

Yes you can.

[Pfb12345]

Yes you can and you don't need to go back in on the 4th, you can start your maternity leave that day or if your LA or whatever has a policy stating a set day of the week then chose the latest day beforehand. E.g my mat leave started on a Sunday as per my LA policy but then didn't need to be in work on Monday. Returning.. you don't need to go back before the end of term either. Again my example was end of term Friday 22nd then mat leave ended Sunday 24th then I 'returned to work' Monday 25th but really I didn't as it was the holidays. Then you get paid your usual wage for the whole summer and you'll get paid usual wage all through Christmas hols too before your mat leave. It is all legal and your school can't dispute it. Also I used my KIT days before the summer hols to go into work and get straight for returning which helped with the money as by then for me I was on no pay as I started my mat leave in the Autumn.

[northernlass81]

Yes. You can put the first day of term as your first day of mat leave and therefore finish on Dec 17th. You can put the very first day of the summer holls down as your return date and not actually start till Sept but get paid over summer. They can't not allow it. I did similar and just used a couple of kit days in July to get prepared.

[PrincessHB]

Amazing. Thank you for your responses all. So glad it is all ok and will use KIT days as suggested. I had thought there would be issues around how much leave would be accrued vs worked but clearly not the case now I've moved from FE!

[Hibbetyhob]

Yes like others have said this is completely fine. I found I missed out in lots of ways re leave as everyone else I knew (not teachers) had around 14-15 months off by using annual leave either side of their mat leave, which we obviously can’t do. Using your holidays in the way you suggest is only essentially doing what everyone else does when they use annual leave around mat leave.

[Clammyclam]

I agree with the PP
This is the best way of maximising time and money.

If you didn't actually want to go back into school in July you could 'return to work' on the first day of the summer holiday, this being paid.
Though it would be handy to do 3 KIT/ retune to work days before everyone goes off for summer and so you are ready for Sept. (and being paid)

Make the most of these methods, it's what everyone does.

And congrats

[wishing3]

You can totally do that. I’m starting mat leave first day after a hol, and my head has tried to tempt me back for start of new school year by saying I’d get the summer holiday pay then (so presumably I’d end mat leave on last day of summer term)! I think this is all pretty standard and not cheeky if that’s what you’re worrying about.

[PrincessHB]

Great. Yes I did indeed think it would be cheeky and also go against any potential rules on x amount of accrued 'annual leave' throughout just 7 months off as it would have done in my previous job. I will let them know of my intentions asap when opportunity arises. I think I will just do token days in July to prepare for the return in Sept.

[Hercwasonaroll]

Gosh yes totally do this op!! It's one of the only teacher perks! You can set your return date to the first day of the 6 weeks holiday if you.

[baffledmum]

Hi, You can absolutely do this and you don’t need to go back before the end of the summer term. You must, however, give 8 weeks notice of your return to work to HR and you can then make that date the first day of the summer holiday. You don’t need to tell anyone else within the school that you have done this, it is no-one else’s business.

[Ejb86]

Yes! If it works with their dates, most teachers do it this way.

[Fallulah]

Also look at shared parental leave to see how to get the most out of your maternity leave.
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.tes.com/news/shared-parental-leave-guide-teachers%3famp

[June2008]

Yes you can. I started my maternity on the 3rd Sept, baby due 4th Sept (term started 5th!). My return date was the Monday of May half term. So I worked the six weeks of summer HT2 then had another six weeks off.

This was baby number 2 and we'd planned and been lucky to have a September baby. Did cut it slightly finer than I would have liked though!