Can someone help me understand maternity pay for teachers please? I'm desparate to thinking about ttc but DH as usual wants to know every possible impact before even considering it. I've been trying to make sense of the "burgundy book" but getting in a real pickle with all the exceptions and examples so am no wiser.
In particular how does holiday fit in. I think that in a "normal" job where you accrue holiday you are still entitled to paid holiday? So how does it work in teaching when there are fixed holidays? Do they just not count? What if I had the baby in the school holidays - would maternity leave start from when it was born or when the next term started? And how much impact does my salary have on maternity pay? I'm going onto M6 (+fringe) in September but thinking about going for AST status this year. Would I lose loads in maternity pay if I gave the AST a miss unless or until I returned to work post-maternity.