KIT day paid hourly.

[UnlikelyFinancialGuru]

Posting here for traffic. NC for this.

My DC is five months old. I went into the office last week to meet with my boss and have a proper catch up with my team. I was in the office for around 4 hours. I spent another 3 travelling there and back.

I have emailed HR to advise them that I’d like to be paid for this and they’ve asked specifically how many hours I was in the office for. They propose to deduct a day’s SMP and give me 4 hours pay and have advised that KIT days are paid hourly.

I was told verbally by HR before I went on mat leave that any work - no matter how little - counted as a ‘full’ KIT day. The policy can also be read in this way (which legally means I’m able to benefit from it because any uncertainty can be read in the non-drafting party’s favour).

But WTF? Has anyone else been told this? It seems highly unusual. I can’t find anything concrete online about it but would rather be able to present them with a ‘here’s the rule’ email, then pick apart their policy and go nuclear.

Help appreciated!

This is normally agreed before you go in. Could it be that when they say it counts as a full day, they mean you've used one whole kit day entitlement, not that you get paid a full days wages? I wouldn't expect to be paid for the whole day if you weren't there a whole day. That is how my work do it.

Mine were paid hourly.
I only agreed to them after I had dropped down to unpaid maternity, and my commute is only a few minutes each way so it was no big deal for me.

Seems like it's not even worth you going if HR are going to be so petty about it - you have no obligation to agree to them.

Could it be that when they say it counts as a full day, they mean you've used one whole kit day entitlement, not that you get paid a full days wages

This is how it was explained to me

They're normally paid hourly.
What they meant was if you go in, even for just an hour, it counts as a kit day. So if you have 10 then you only have 9 left after working 1 hour. You still only get paid for the hours you work though.

This is why I've never done them, didn't want it to mess up my SMP

Think you paid for just the time you go in as some go in for just an hour but told to hr x

I agree with the pp. It means you use one of your 10 Kit day allowance even if you are only there for an hour. My kit days will be paid per hour. Which i think is fair to the other employees. I don't expect to be paid a full day for just coming in for a meeting.

Plus unless before mat leave your work counted your commute towards working hours why would they do it now?

I am a teacher and my KIT days were paid hourly. They were actually a godsend when I was on The I paid part of SMP.

Also agree with the no matter how much you work it is one full KIT day. So if you work for 1 hour it is classed as using up one of your full KIT days, not that you get paid for a full KIT day.

It's reasonable for them to pay for the hours you were there (and for it to count as one of your KIT days), for the reasons outlined above. You weren't really expecting a full day's pay, were you?

That said, I don't think they should be making any deductions from your SMP, no matter how many KIT days you take. Can you ask them to check that again?

two separate issues here

1. this should be agreed beforehand so you know what you are doing

2. 4 hours is fine (that is what you were in the office for) BUT if the reverse answer is that "if you had known it was a kit day would you have worked a full day?" is Yes, then back to part 1!

Yes, completely normal. Did you think you’d be able to count your travelling time ?

I'm no expert but it says on the govt.uk website that the pay must be agreed between you and your employer. However it also says that your maternity leave and pay cannot be affected by taking keeping in touch days. So i don't see how they can pay you instead of SMP?

www.gov.uk/employee-rights-when-on-leave

I agree with others, it’s a full day in that it’s a whole KIT day. Doesn’t mean they have to pay you a whole day.

This link indicates that your SMP shouldn't be affected by KIT days -

www.maternityaction.org.uk/advice-2/mums-dads-scenarios/pregnant/keeping-in-touch-days/#payment-for-kit-split-days

Mine was paid on top of my SMP, not instead of. My employer wasn't being nice either, I believe KIT days do not affect SMP.

I’m paid a full day no matter how long I was in for. This should definitely be agreed beforehand

Fortunately SMP is so shitty it still makes sense to to get two hours pay.

And did you all allow them to deduct a day’s SMP but only pay you by the hour? Wouldn’t you request they deduct, 3 hours SMP and give you 3 hours full pay.

I’m not expecting to be paid for commuting...

@MargotSimpson. This is what I was told before I went on leave and the day was agreed in advance. Hence being so pissed off.
Thanks - glad to know I am not totally on my own here.

Thanks @Kald and @Violet bunny. That’s really helpful. I appreciate the links.

Also i believe KIT days are in addition to SMP not instead of

Do you work for the NHS? EXACTLY the same thing happened to me, it wasn’t worth my whole and I was very annoyed

I am NHS. I got a full day's pay, no effect on my SMP either.

My company paid a full day's pay regardless of hours attended and it was not deducted from SMP.

As long as you work no more than 10 KIT days, it should have no effect on SMP.