KIT Day rights and pay help

[SammySquirrell12]

Good afternoon all

I'm having trouble finding a definitive answer to a maternity pay related question, and I wondered if anyone had any experience or knowledge in this to help me please...

I took maternity leave with my current employer in 2021. During that maternity leave, I used some KIT days to come in for board meetings and the subsequent board lunches afterwards. This would total around 4/5 hours. I chose these days as they were the ones that would get me back up to speed with the going ons of the company quickly (as everything was discussed in these meetings) and were the least disruptive to my maternity cover. As I don't work in a team, if I went in for a KIT day it would be very hard for me to jump in for a days work otherwise. This is what I am proposing to do again this mat leave.

This was fine with my company and I was paid for the day, rather than by hour.

Since then our HR person has changed and when I was discussing my upcoming maternity leave and KIT days, she said I would be paid by the hour for the hours I worked on a KIT day.

Now I know this hasn't been checked with anyone in the company and this is just her view. She is a freelance HR advisor who works with us one day per month, hasn't done any maternity leave with our company since joining and when I had my meeting with her about my leave, she didn't have answers to any of my (simple) questions, and I saw her googling answers to them after the meeting. Therefore I know this is her view and not the company policy. I have asked her why there has been a change in this since my last mat leave, but she hasn't answered me.

My question is, if I am not normally paid an hourly rate, and if I was previously paid a day rate for the same KIT days on my previous maternity leave, can they change it now and pay an hourly rate?

I need to work this out as if they can and do pay me an hourly rate, there will be no point in me doing the KIT days, as I will need childcare for these days, plus I will be travelling an hour to and from the office for not much money.

Any thoughts?

Many thanks!!

You have no obligation to go in for KIT days at all. The HR person is not the boss of you. It is legal for them to only pay you for the work time you do, but it would be illegal for you to suffer any negative consequences or blame if you are therefore unavailable.

Your line manager needs to intervene. You let them know that you will be happy to come in for KIT days if you are paid your full salary for the whole day for those days. It is not practical or economically sensible for you to go through the upheaval of making the necessary arrangements for any lesser remuneration. Then stand your ground.

They definitely aren't making me do KIT days - I would like to do them for an extra bump of money and to keep up to date with things to make my return smoother, but not if I am being paid by hour. It wouldn't be worth me leaving my baby.

I'm just shocked that they paid me for the day last time and now want to pay me for the hours I'm in the office.

"You will usually only be paid for the hours worked and you need to agree what you will be paid with your employer in advance."

https://maternityaction.org.uk/advice/keeping-in-touch-days/

If you're board level though, I would speak to CEO and ask for the full day to be paid.

It’s up to your employer whether they pay by hour or daily rate no matter how much you work
many employers do a day rate because it’s quite a decent thing to do however, and on 6 hours I think that would be reasonable but they don’t have to

https://maternityaction.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/KIT-2019.pdf

Most organisations pay a day for however much you work. If you're still in receipt of SMP they're supposed to deduct the equivalent of a days worth of SMP so I would ask them about that too. Their policy should state what they will pay you. https://www.acas.org.uk/your-maternity-leave-pay-and-other-rights/while-youre-on-maternity-leave