Holiday pay

[Xiou]

My holiday entitlement runs January to December. My contract states 5.8 weeks, half to be taken by me and half by my employer (pretty standard for nannies)

I go on maternity leave in July. How much holiday pay will I be entitled to if I haven't taken any holiday time this year. Can the family tell me that I am only entitled to take my half of the holidays and therefor I will lose their half?

Don't forget you still accrue holiday while on mat leave so if you haven't had any including their choice by the time you go on mat leave and you are off till the end of the year you will be owed it all, plus any for next year when you are off depending on your return date.

I am only staying until summer as they are moving house hundreds of miles away. I will start my maternity leave when they move but am hoping to take the first part as holiday.

Is there an easy way to work out how much holiday pay I will be entitled to in case they quibble it with me?

5.8 / 12 = 0.483 so in one month, you get 0.483 weeks holiday.
Jan to end June = 6 months. So 6 x 0.483 = 2.9 weeks. If working 5 days a week then that's 14.5 days.
There are other ways of calculating it, such as 5.8 x 5 (days) x 0.5 (6 months) = 14.5 days.

5.6 weeks is more typical of a nanny contract... it's 28 days. So check your contract that it does say 5.8 weeks.
If it is 5.6, then 6 months work would be 14 days holiday.

Are you sure you have not taken any holiday? Take today for example, it is bank holiday Friday - do you usually work on a Friday? Are you working today? If you usually work on a Friday and you are not working today, then you are taking it as a holiday... either as part of your choice, or your employers choice.
This Monday is a Bank Holiday. 6th May is a Bank Holiday, 27th May is a Bank Holiday.

1st Jan was a bank holiday, it was on a Tueday this year. Is that one of your normal working days?

So you need to factor in the bank holidays during the months you are working, which I expect are 1st Jan, 29 March, 1 Apr, 5 May, 27 May this year.

I would suggest that your employer chooses those days and any others they decide to take or have taken between Jan and end June. Then the remaining are your days.

Not sure how being on maternity leave will make a difference to this, I suspect it may make a difference as whilst on maternity leave you are still an employee and still accrue holiday.

As they are moving away, are you being made redundant? Are you going to be getting any maternity leave, if you are redundant before you start maternity leave?

I started in September so haven't been there long enough for redundancy

I am expected to work bank holidays as if they were a normal day, so no I haven't had any holiday so far this year.

I work 2 days....my contract says 11 days (5.6 weeks x 2 days a week). They are to choose 6 days and I am to choose the other 5

I will be leaving in July when I am 26 weeks pregnant. I can start my maternity leave at 29 weeks so am hoping to use my holiday allowance to take me to 29 weeks

Is that possible?

5.6 x 2 is not 11, it's 11.2 and it can not be rounded down.

With regard to redundancy, what I was trying to establish is if you are getting maternity leave, or if the job is ending before you go on maternity leave.

Do you qualify for SMP? I think you do.
"Find the Sunday before the day your baby is due or the due day if that is a Sunday. Count back 15 Sundays from there. This Sunday is the start of the 15th week before the week your baby is due ? it is known as the Qualifying
Week."

Maternity Action says:
Do I still get SMP if my job ends after the 15th week before my baby is due?
Yes, you can still get SMP as long as you are employed in the 15th week before your baby is due and you meet the normal qualifying conditions. It doesn?t matter if you are off sick or on holiday in that week.
Once you have qualified for SMP, you are entitled to receive it for the full 39 weeks. This is true even if you are made redundant, you leave your job or a fixed term contract comes to an end at any time after the 15th week
before your baby is due or during your maternity leave.

They also say
*Can I still get SMP if I am dismissed or made redundant?
You can still get SMP if you were employed in all or part of the 15th week before your baby is due and you meet the qualifying conditions for SMP. You are entitled to receive SMP for the full 39 weeks regardless of when your job
ends. Your employer can pay the SMP in a lump sum but they may have to pay more National Insurance.

SMP can be offset against contractual redundancy pay or against statutory or contractual notice pay but not against statutory redundancy pay. In some cases, your employer may make a payment in lieu of notice but they can only do this if it is stated in your contract. Your employer cannot offset SMP against a payment in lieu of notice.

There will be contractual notice if your employer is ending your contract. Have they given you a finishing date?

I think what you are trying to do is to finish the job on the finishing date then have the holiday then have SMP start after the holiday. Is that right?

What happens about the holiday you build up whilst on maternity leave, or is it a case that you lose that because the job no longer exists. Anyone know?

Does the family use a nanny payroll company? They should be able to advise the parents about what payments will be necessary and what holiday you need to have taken/or get paid for.

ACAS says "Accrued holiday on termination need not to be rounded to the nearest half day ? payment can be made for the exact amount of leave accrued."

So with annual entitlement of 11.2 days and none being taken, on termination at the 6 month point in the holiday period, then you would get 5.6 days of holiday pay on termination.

Would the parents round up, to 6 days? Maybe they would, maybe they would not.

Maternity leave gets a bit complex, so have the parents talked to their payroll provider? That may be the first step and if you will be working right up to the termination day, the payroll company could be told that plus told that you would be having holiday added on at the end, then calculate the SMP and determine how the SMP will be paid (such as in lump sum).

To be honest this stuff is beyond me, the SMP bit I feel complicates it. Maybe someone else will be able to give you more sensible advice and know about how SMP affects things.

Are you asking the question to make sure you are able to claim SMP?

If you are employed in the 26th week of your pregnancy then you qualify for SMP (presuming you have earnt £107 per week) So you can leave at week 26 rather than in week 29.

So it sounds like you are ok and that when they make you redundant you will get paid any holiday owing to you up until that point and they will be responsible for paying your SMP (which they claim back from the government)

Explained in much more detail by nannynick

When is your due date? The dates could be very important here, as I think your baby may not be due until Mid October and you may not be able to go on maternity leave until the End of July.

So what you may be trying to do is to not finish work on the day your employer leaves, but instead to have holiday added to the end of your employment to take you into the point when you qualify for SMP. Depending on the exact dates, the qualifying week for SMP may be the week AFTER your job has ended. Anyone else looking at the info given so far and concluding the same possibility?

Yes, was thinking the same way that you have just put it. IF she is 26 weeks when the employment ends then she's ok but obviously does depend on when she is due and how many weeks she actually is when the job finishes.

Xiou - are you expecting to get SMP, or will you be claiming MA when you go on maternity leave?

The baby is due early October

I will be 26 weeks pregnant when they leave so will qualify (just) for SMP. You qualify as long as you work some of week 26 (which i will) but can't start SMP until you're 29 weeks pregnant.

Can I use my holiday entitlement to fill the gap?

They don't use a payroll company, they do my payslips and tax themselves.

Try posting in Employment Issues - www.mumsnet.com/Talk/employment_issues - see if you can get the attention of mumsnetters who work in HR, they may have come across this sort of situation before.

Personally, I do not think you can as the job has come to an end, so the SMP may be paid in lump sum. The holiday not taken may be paid as well, rather than you taking it. You may get payment in leiu of notice, though that is less likely as you know the date you are finishing work, thus you have I presume been given formal notice that the job is ending. However I could very easily be wrong.

I would suggest you call Maternity Action to see if they can help you. They have an advice line and if you give them the specific dates involved, plus the fact that the job is coming to an end and that you have outstanding holiday yet to be taken, they with luck will be able to give advice.

Has your employer said that they are aware you will qualify for SMP and have they looked at how they go about paying that?

What do your employers want to do? If they want you to work through then its not a problem, they can pay you a lump sum before you leave.

If they want you to take holiday, they would choose the 3 days they want you to have off, you then do not have to take your holiday, so you would be paid for your 2.7 days when you leave. Leaving employment is the only time you have the right to be paid for accred leave not taken.