To use all my annual leave before maternity leave

[incognito1991]

I don’t even know if my company will allow it but I’ve build up just under 10 weeks annual leave, I am due to go on maternity leave in October, could I use the whole 10 weeks annual leave to go off before then?

In theory yes but you must start maternity leave on the day of the birth so you need to time it right

In theory yes...but in practice you might prefer to tack it on the end of your leave and have 2.5 months off at full pay (check how much you can roll over)

If an option, I'd save it for after and combine it with your DP taking over parental leave so you have a lovely chunk of time off together

She'll have all the leave she has accrued during maternity leave to use at the end

This isn’t right. You can go on maternity leave weeks before baby is born, just the latest it can start is the day after baby is born. So they could take the leave then start mat leave. If baby comes early the leave will roll over

You could take it before you go off, or start maternity leave earlier and use the annual leave in the unpaid bit of maternity leave. You can’t lose your leave and you’ll still accrue leave while you’re on mat leave. Maybe talk to HR about options.

I had similar, I took 5 weeks off before baby was due and then tacked all the annual leave I'd accrued onto the end of my mat leave. Ended up with 15 months off altogether

Yeah i'd try and add it to the end, once the baby is here - congratulations x

That's exactly what you are supposed tomdo, especially if your holiday year will end while you're on mat leave, othetw8se your leave would go unused.

Please check your company policy on adding the leave to the end. With both my mat leaves I had to take a certain amount of days annual leave before I went on mat leave otherwise I would lose it. I didn’t know this with my first, she arrived early. HR sent me an email saying because she arrived early they’ll add it to the end of mat leave otherwise I would have lost it. I only had 5 or 6 days.

I’m not actually planning on going back once I have gone off on maternity, which is why I’m wanting to just leave earlier, I can’t stand it there and I’m only there right now for the maternity pay. I have something else lined up for afterwards

Have you checked that you won’t need to pay back your Enhanced Maternity pay if you don’t return to work?

If you do need to pay it back if you leave after your Maternity Leave ends, you could use a few of the weeks of annual leave to cover the period that you need to work to not have to repay it, provided that you can carry it over. Best to check your company’s policy carefully.

Yes, this is really important to find out. My sister was caught out by this. It very standard to have to return for a certain period of time or pay back any enhanced maternity pay.

Yes I’ve checked, I don’t need to pay anything back if I don’t return

Yes. In Scotland -I took 7 weeks AL -then 12months mat leave-then 4weeks AL.

I did this and had a glorious 3 months before my baby was born! Was same timing as you too so had the whole summer.

What is company policy on having to pay back maternity pay if you do not return after? Do you want to have to pay back all ypur enhanced maternity pay?