Mat leave and holidays

[lemonycherry]

My mat leave comes to an end next week. To date I have accrued 31 days holiday (I work in a school and my holiday year is September to August.)
After checking all my holiday was ok etc I have now been told that I will have to take my 31 days or loose them. I can't take this many days straight off because it would mean I wouldn't go back until September and I have paid for nursery for my little one and for doggy day care which I will still have to pay if I don't use it.
I was under the impression that I would be legally allowed to carry over 28 days of holiday and then would take 3 days as and when but this is apparently not a requirement by law. I was then told I could carry over a week and get paid for any additional days that were left but again this is apparently not the case.
I am so worked up about this, I don't understand why they've backtracked or even if they are legally allowed to request this.
Anyone got any clarity on the situation?

They are legally right.

Were you expecting to just have double the leave to take this year?

It depends on when your leave year runs to and from and where your maternity leave falls within that but it's pretty common practice to tag accrued leave onto the beginning or end of maternity leave unless you will definitely be able to take anything you have accrued before then end of the leave year (ie if you don't take the full 1 year mat leave).

Even then it's up to the employer when they allow you to take annual leave, as long as they ensure you can take your legal entitlement in the leave year,

It's more complicated than what I have put above but the short answer to your question, yes they are correct that you can't take 31 days worth of accrued leave as and when you like over the next leave period, especially if you can take it now even if it's not what you want to do.

@pastabest to confirm a start date was agreed with me and there was no expectation that I would be expected to take holiday in this period.
If they had said to me you need to take your months holiday from your start date that would've been fine but this was never mentioned

Also I took all my leave before going on mat leave and have accrued the 31 days from the September 2019 until this date

Started a reply and lost it. Pastabest has said exactly what I wanted to. This is why most of our employees take between 8-9 months of maternity leave and then take all of their accrued leave before returning to work. If your leave year runs April to March then you should only have to take the 2019/20 leave. This years leave is for you to take up until the end of March 2021.

Did your employer write out a maternity plan with you before you went on leave?

@FartingNora unfortunately as it's a new contract I'm going into but the same company this has not been mentioned. I have an email stating that I could carry my holiday over to the new contract.
With the nature of the new job it is not going to be practical to take the leave in August from my managers perspective as well as my own.
As it's at a university and it's enrolment time normally no annual leave is allowed to be taken at all from the middle of July.
When I spoke to my immediate manager I was told that normally they would allow me to take the 31 days over and take a day a week pretty much until it was used. I was then told I could carry over a week and they would pay me for the rest of the time. I agreed to this.
Now I've been told I have to take it from next week

@wishingitwasfriday no, they were going through a company merger at the time so I was told when I would be due back and confirmed holiday would be accrued from the start of the new holiday year (sept 2019) as I used my holiday up prior to my mat leave starting.
As it's a university setting no holiday is allowed to be taken from mid July due to enrolment periods so it seems strange that they now want me to take holiday in this time

If you are on annual leave you are no longer on mat leave so should get paid accordingly.

it seems strange that they now want me to take holiday in this time

not really, it's less disruptive for them than you coming back and then having double the amount of leave to take over the next year.

They have communicated really poorly but I'm amazed they agreed to the original plan for you to work a 4 day week and they are correct that if you can take it now rather than carry it over or be paid for it then that is lawfully what you are supposed to do.

I appreciate it's probably a huge kick in the gut for you and it's nit what you have planned but it will have been clearly set out in your staff handbook etc and it's as much your responsibility as theirs.

I only know this because I had a similar issue in between maternity leaves so ended up becoming very familiar with how it works.

@pastabest doesn't seem easier at all. They are a manager short so no one is there to manager the team during enrolment and they let their temp member of staff go this week!
I've been back through my contract at it doesn't say that my leave cannot be carried over doesn't even say that in my contract contract

A lot of people use their accrued leave to take off one or two days a week for a period until its used up, so you're part time for a while although getting paid full time. Is that an option your employer would be happy with?

Whilst it may seem odd for them to let you take leave in July when they don't normally allow it, an employer should/could presume that a years maternity will be taken. This would mean that you'd be off in July anyway so if that's what they had thought then it wouldn't make much difference to them. May be worth speaking to ACAS.

@wintertime6 I'd be happy with that. I've been told i take it or loose it.
My line manager has come back to me to say I cannot take it from mid July so god only knows what's happening now. He muted that I might have to just 'take it on the chin'
I've got a meeting first thing tomorrow morning to discuss.

@wishingitwasfriday sorry should've been clearer I've taken my full year off.

I don't know any answers but you could send baby to nursery and enjoy a bit of me time, you wont get it again!

@Ducklingfarm I could the problem is work is an hour and a half drive away and he is in the nursery next to it. It seems ludicrous to drive all that way and back twice a day if I am not there

Appreciate you are in a different field to me but it's pretty normal for accrued leave to be taken immediately after maternity leave, and HR prefer that. You are also owed any bank holidays that have occurred during your mat leave.

But from your posts it doesn't sound like they really know what they're doing :)

If you are happy to be paid for the holidays instead of taking them (or some of them) then see if you can negotiate that maybe?

Update in case anyone else is in this position.

HR have made a mistake and forgot to send me an email to ask if I wanted to carry over/be paid for holiday that I had accrued through my mat leave. There is nothing they can do now apparently so having to take all my holiday from the start of next week.
Beyond frustrated as it means that I get no say over what happens with my team during enrolment and September and will instead be shipped out to another department to do my old old job.