Maternity leave and bank holidays

[jinglebells9]

I work the NHS. I get 27 days holiday plus 8 bank holidays. I enquired about whether I would accrue the bank holidays while I was off to add onto the end of my leave but I was told if you are on maternity leave you don't accrue the holidays. I'm shocked about this to be honest. So I'm just missing out on those extra days? Does this sound right?

It totally depends on your contract and maternity leave policy. My work- they are accrued and carried over as paid when you return or made available as extra days leave when your back.

You should accrue whilst on mat leave, same as sick leave etc. They could make an exception for above stat min hols, which is 28 days. Maybe they don't accrue but get paid out as/when they happen?

I can't get hold of the trust policy at the moment to check as I think you can only access it from a work computer. It just doesn't sound right that my contracted holidays are 27+8 bank holidays yet it lose out on the BH because I'm on maternity leave.

I work for the NHS and accrued mine, as stated in NHS Employers guidance - 15.93 Employees on paid and unpaid maternity / adoption / shared parental leave retain their right to the annual leave and public holidays provided by Section 13 or such other terms and conditions as such be applicable to the employee.

@tealandteal

I work for the NHS and accrued mine, as stated in NHS Employers guidance - 15.93 Employees on paid and unpaid maternity / adoption / shared parental leave retain their right to the annual leave and public holidays provided by Section 13 or such other terms and conditions as such be applicable to the employee.

If this is online do you have a link to this by any chance?

www.nhsemployers.org/publications/tchandbook

I certainly didn't accrue bank holidays but I wasn't nhs. I did accrue standard annual leave

[quote tealandteal]www.nhsemployers.org/publications/tchandbook[/quote]
Thank you. I know others that work for the NHS but a different trust and they have never heard or losing the bank holidays just because you're on maternity!

I'm also an NHS employee and I accrued Annual Leave as well as Stat Leave on my last maternity leave I'm 2020

In#

I don't work in NHS but I was paid for bank Holidays and I thought that was statutory.

I’m a bit shocked, I’ve had two nhs mat leaves but didn’t count bank holidays in my accrued annual leave - could these extra days have need added to end of my mat leave?

I've had one load of mat leave with one NHS employer and accrued the BH, about to go on my second mat leave with a different employer and trust policy says I don't accrue them.

@ReeseWitherfork

I've had one load of mat leave with one NHS employer and accrued the BH, about to go on my second mat leave with a different employer and trust policy says I don't accrue them.

So do you just lose out on all the bank holidays that were during your maternity leave? It just seems a bit unfair.

I don't really understand this.

In a normal year, for someone who works Mon-Fri, there are 260 working days. People generally get 20*+8 holiday + bank holiday days.
*or some higher number

And their annual salary covers them for working 260-(20*+8) days.

While on maternity leave for up to a year, they receive maternity pay at either SMP or enhanced maternity pay. Which covers the 260 working days.

Why do they then get to add on the 20* + 8 days at full pay?

It just makes it complicated and different employers interpret it in different ways. Does anyone want to take the extra 20*+8 days? Or would they prefer an enhanced maternity policy but still able to take the full up to 12 month leave?

They are incorrect. You should not be at a detriment because you are on maternity leave. You are entitled to your full holiday entitlement including bank holidays at the end of your maternity leave.

Push back on this in writing if you have a problem.

@Schoolchoicesucks

I don't really understand this.

In a normal year, for someone who works Mon-Fri, there are 260 working days. People generally get 20*+8 holiday + bank holiday days.
*or some higher number

And their annual salary covers them for working 260-(20*+8) days.

While on maternity leave for up to a year, they receive maternity pay at either SMP or enhanced maternity pay. Which covers the 260 working days.

Why do they then get to add on the 20* + 8 days at full pay?

It just makes it complicated and different employers interpret it in different ways. Does anyone want to take the extra 20*+8 days? Or would they prefer an enhanced maternity policy but still able to take the full up to 12 month leave?

I can help with this. Holiday entitlement is covered by the working time regulations and the working time directive. Maternity leave is a statutory right. An employee is entitled to all of their holiday at the end of any statutory leave (in this instance we are talking about mat leave).

If an employee were taking paternity leave and their leave took place over a bank holiday then they would be entitled to take that day off at another time because their leave is a protected statutory right. You can't break that leave to pay for the bank holiday for one day.

@Schoolchoicesucks a lot of women use the accrued holidays to get the final part of mat leave paid if they have dropped down to no pay.

Op I believe as others have said that different nhs trusts have different rules. I would definitely query it though to be sure. Was it Hr you spoke to or just a manager?

[quote SGChome20]@Schoolchoicesucks a lot of women use the accrued holidays to get the final part of mat leave paid if they have dropped down to no pay.

Op I believe as others have said that different nhs trusts have different rules. I would definitely query it though to be sure. Was it Hr you spoke to or just a manager?[/quote]
My manager said she had queried this with HR and this is what they said apparently.

Phone ACAS. They will set things straight and tell you what to do to fix this. It is discriminatory to miss out on BH / leave due to illness or pregnancy.
My manager told me I wouldn’t get BH carried over after mat leave. I’d also been off sick for most of my pregnancy and though I’d taken barely any annual leave that year, I could only carry over the usual 5 days and the rest would be lost. After a email and a call with HR, I got nearly another 2 months off after my mat leave had officially finished.

I wasn’t NHS but got annual leave and bank holidays accrued. I’m not sure what justification there would be for not accruing bank holidays especially as so many employers add it together for an overall allowance.

Could it depend whether you normally work BHs?

If you normally work M-F 9-5 or similar and your office/service is closed on BHs, then you probably shouldn't expect to accrue BHs.

But if you're employed on a 24/7/365 service and you normally work BHs, your leave is effectively 35 days per year including BHs and you would need to use a days leave to take a BH off if you were supposed to be working then, so then you'd expect to accrue BHs because they're just part of your normal leave entitlement?

I work for the NHS and have accrued both my annual leave and the 8 BH days on top of that for two recent maternity leaves. Thought that was standard NHS policy.

Everyone is entitled to a minimum of 28 days holiday per year. This is inclusive of bank holidays so it's often worded as 20 days plus bank holidays, with the bank holidays being set days and the other 20 your choice.

If you're entitled to 27 days plus bank holidays that makes your holiday entitlement 35 days per year and the whole of this should be accrued (pro-rata) during your maternity leave.

I used to work for the NHS. In my first maternity I accrued both AL and BH. My second which started 6 months after the return of my first I was told I only got AL.