Maternity leave and sickness

[Stella8234]

Just a general enquiry really because I'm so stressed out about the situation I am in with my employer. I work as a registered nurse for our local nhs foundation trust. I am currently 27 weeks pregnant and about 7 weeks ago I was diagnosed with SPD. I have been unable to work for the past 2 weeks as my mobilityhas been seriously affected. The physio and doctor both say physically I can no longer do my job and my gp signed me off on long term sick as they say the problem will get worse rather than better. I contacted my employer yesterday and informed them of the situation to be told they will commence my maternity leave early- 11 weeks prior to EDD. Does anyone know if they can legally do this? And if they can do this will I be able to request to return to work instead and do very light duties to prevent this from happening as I don't want to lose the time with my baby, it's too precious!

they can only start your maternity leave early if you are off with a pregnancy related illness in the 4 weeks before your due date, they cannot start it earlier than that. From gov.uk site:

Usually, the earliest leave can start is 11 weeks before the expected week of childbirth.

Leave will also start:

• the day after the birth if the baby is early
• automatically if you?ve been off work for a pregnancy-related illness in the 4 weeks before the due date

p.s. your options would be to stay off on sick leave until your maternity leave starts or to go back to light duties before that (if you are given the okay by your gp/physio) - your work cannot make you start maternity leave before you want to unless you are off within the 4 weeks of your due date and it is pregnancy related.