Maternity/ Annual leave entitlement

[laur1994]

Hello, I was wondering if someone could enlighten me!

I am expecting my first baby on 14th June 19 and am entitled to SMP with my employer. Our annual leave renews on April 1st and I am entitled to 28.

I have requested if I can tag on my annual leave before I go off on Mat leave as it will be past the cut off point when I return (I plan on taking the full year). I work for a small company that have no HR department. My manager has not had to deal with maternity leave until now so seems unsure. However, she did tell me that I cannot use my annual leave until I return as I would not have accrued it by then, despite me pointing out that it will be a new tax year when I return.

Has anyone been in this situation? And could anyone tell me what my rights are as I am also unsure!

Thank you

You aren’t entitled to take your leave before as you won’t have accrued it but you can carry it over into the next year and use it then on top of the next years entitlement (I work in hr)

Not true to above poster. I work for the nhs as we can take all annual leave prior to going on mat leave. Assuming you would pay it back if I you didn't return but that's the same for enhanced mat pay too.

Thank you! So is it really down to the companies discretion then? I just don't get why I can't take it because if I weren't pregnant I wouldn't have to wait until I'd accrued it.

I took all of mine prior to going off on maternity leave twice. Work for NHS

My AL runs from jan-dec and I had mat leave in May I was told to use the half I hadn't accrued before as I'd have the next years to use when I got back.

You're still employed on mat leave so you technically will have accrued it.

I took some of mine before I left but I used 3 weeks of it (1week per month) in the last 3 months of mat leave when not eligible for any money and it really helped see me through and was technically within the same year (just!)

Sorry didn’t realise nhs was different, most companies don’t pay enhanced smp so won’t give all your holidays before you have accrued them incase you don’t go back.

They said I could carry it all over into the next tax year but I'm not convinced. I really want to take 2 weeks before I go.

If baby is due end of June then won’t you have at least accrued some that you can use? Our leave starts in August and I went off end of September but used a week before.

I am hoping so but my manager doesn't even know how much I would have accrued by then. It's so frustrating because they can't give me any straight answers.

Depends on where you work. Nhs too but my trust will only allow you to take what you’ve accrued before mat leave then everything else rolls over to afterwards.

Holiday entitlement

You build up all your entitlements to paid holiday during your Statutory Maternity Leave. This is even if your contract says you are entitled to more than the legal minimum.

I just looked on gov website as I wasn’t sure for myself:
You can add holiday to the beginning or end of your Statutory Maternity Leave. You may not be able to carry over untaken holiday entitlement if your Statutory Maternity Leave goes over two holiday years. You could take this at the beginning of your Statutory Maternity Leave.

Chat isn’t a good place for these sorts of posts. Try the Employment issues board.

if I weren't pregnant I wouldn't have to wait until I'd accrued it.

If that’s true that’s direct sex discrimination and they're on dodgy ground.

You’ll have accrued just under 6 days.

28/52*11 = 5.92

You can take it before your maternity pay kicks in. However, if your baby is born during that annual leave your leave switches to maternity. You are still an employee with the company but will not be able to physically take annual leave as you will be on maternity leave.
In my place of work you can take your whole entitlement prior to maternity pay kicking in. If you gave notice prior to returning to work I would calculate your entitlement based on point in the calendar and deduct any holiday that hadn't been accrued from your final pay. I'm in HR.

Thank you all for your help! Hopefully I can atleast take my accrued, although not much!