Holiday entitlement while on mat leave

[Thefaceofboe]

Can someone briefly explain to me how holidays work while on mat leave.

I went on mat leave late September and plan on going back to work in June. I’ve got baby brain and my employer is (shit) barley replying to my emails. 🙄

As far as my employer goes, I accrue annual leave exactly the same as if I was in work

You will accrue holiday at the normal rate.

You accrue your usual holidays when on leave. You could maybe take some at the end of maternity leave so that you don't have loads of holiday built up

Accrue exactly the same.
I had a months worth of AL accrued so added them onto the end of my mat leave.
Was nice to have a full months pay 🤣

Yeah you accrue as normal and they roll over to the end of your maternity leave if you want them to.

My employer offered to pay my outstanding holiday for last year at the start of my maternity instead of rolling it over so that was a pleasant surprise to have a big pay day at the start of Mat Leave!

Accrue exactly the same.
I had a months worth of AL accrued so added them onto the end of my mat leave.
Was nice to have a full months pay

that’s what I’m hoping to do as I’ll get my last mat pay start of June and then nothing else till the 1st of May payday. My employer keeps saying he’ll get back to me but it’s hard when you’re trying to organise your finances 😩

Last mat pay in June and nothing until may? That doesn't sound quite right op?
My mat leave started in July and I took a few days a/l in April, may and June. I took my whole year mat leave and was paid in varying amounts for 9 months with the last 2 only being a couple of hundred pounds. It was really nice to be paid in part for July and for the whole of August while I used the a/l I accrued while I was away. I still had a/l that I could book when I went back that I earned from July to the following April...
If you're trying to get info out of your boss, check to see if they let you do KIT days. You can do ten full or part days that are paid at your full hourly rate before mat leave ends. I used mine for fire training, info governance etc. It made going back a lot easier and the money was nice too

@Mysa74

I might have got this wrong, but the start of June will be my last month of maternity pay as it’s the 9th month. Then I go back to work end of June/start of July, so I then get paid for July at the start of May as usual. So I was hoping to use some of my holiday pay for July (hope that makes sense!)

I enquired about my KIT days but I have no one for childcare during this time as baby isn’t starting till I go back 😕

You get paid July pay in May? 2 months before you have worked it?

Your explanation makes no sense. Do you get paid in advance or in arrears?

THIS IS WHAT I MEAN ABOUT BABY BRAIN!! 😆

i didn’t mean may, I meant august! So I’ll work July and get paid august 1st. Ha!

That makes far more sense 😁🤣

Are you getting your mat pay as it comes (it varies a lot month my month) or asking for it in 9 equal payments? Most places has it as a option and if they manage to do it (my place failed twice) it makes budgeting much, much easier as you know what you're getting...

@Mysa74

im just getting it as it comes, I didn’t know the other was an option but that would have been a lot better really 😕

Ha! Baby brain at its finest!

you accrue holidays the same as before

did you have any holiday entitlement left before you left? As most will roll over

so: if you had sep/oct/nov/dec ( providing your jan-dec) and hadnt taken the FULL years worth, you should still have a bit left
for THIS year: youre still accruinh holidays , so you can take THIS years off too, if you want or are allowed
this way you can take 9 months off -
take 10,11,12 unpaid
OR stop at 9 months , take accrued holidays for say month 10 , ( maybe some of 11, if you have enough) and go back after?
OR take 10/11 unpaid and "12" as a "holiday" month.
Hope ive explained that.
Tell your boss/manager/HR that you expect clarification by the end of the week with a copy of the maternity policy

*so for eg:
i had 6 weeks of leave from 2020
i was off early 2021
rolled over 2020s leave
took 9 months paid
was unpaid for 3 months
taken another 2 months off as "holiday "

but i couldve "stopped" maternity leave early and still been "off " on holiday ( and paid!)

I only found out by accident, filled out all the paperwork and had confirmation which was great. Then had my first payslip and it was much the same as usual so I queried it. They hadn't split my money but because I'd had 1 payment they couldn't split the rest into 11 equal payments even though it was their fault. Consequently I had 3 months of approx £500, £300 and £100 then 3 months of nothing. I took the whole year plus accrued holiday so I was really glad to see my first payslip!

Whilst it is true that you accrue annual leave exactly the same as if you had been in work as normal throughout your maternity leave, it can vary between employers exactly what that means. They aren't allowed to have policies that have the effect that you can't take the leave at all, but they can dictate limits on how you take the leave in order to minimise the inconvenience to the business. Some employers like you to lake the leave as a big block at the end of ML (basically extending your leave by an extra month at full pay) whilst others want you back quicker and will say that you have to use up the excess within a year of your return but no more than 5 days in any calendar month for example. So long as you have the paid days off and apply the policies fairly and equally then they can have whatever policy they like.

Nb if your normal Annual Leave system rolls bank holidays into the same system as ordinary leave then it will be slightly different as you aren't entitled to take additional days for the bank holidays that you missed.