What happens to my annual leave whilst on maternity leave?

[dollbaby868]

Not really sure where to post this but I thought I could post on this board in case anyone else has been through anything similar.

I went on maternity leave on April 2021 and I was originally going to go back to work in February 2022 and use my annual leave to take one or two days off a week until the new tax year so I could basically work part time.

I'm actually pregnant again and the new baby is due at the end of April so I'll be taking the full year of my current maternity leave and going straight on maternity leave again! (work doesn't know I'm pregnant as of yet but they're happy with me changing my decision to take a full year of maternity leave)

Hope that's not too confusing but I wanted to ask what happens to my annual leave that I've accumulated between April 2021-April 2022? My company has a policy that you can't carry annual leave over to the new tax year so is this something that can be paid to me?

I will of course be asking work what my options are but my department is relatively new and we have a new manager who barely knows anything so I wondered if anyone had been through anything similar?

Do you have an HR dept?

I've experienced both: carried over and had it paid. I believe carried over is the norm. Your maternity policy should tell you. Congrats on everything!

@Mamamamasaurus I do but they're incredibly difficult to get into contact with! There's no number to call, only email and when you email them they never respond. It's a joke.

@ReeseWitherfork yeah I'm sure it isn't unusual to have it carried over but my maternity leave would have started April 2021 and ended early April 2022. Got pregnant again so new mat leave starts early April 2022 and ends April 2023. I'm sure they won't carry two years worth of annual leave over if you get my point?

Also @ReeseWitherfork thank you! X

I was allowed to tag it on to the end.
If you are allowed I’d change your current mat leave end date to March 2022 and use your holidays for April. Assuming the last three months of your mat leave are unpaid you would at least get the last month as holiday pay before going off again.

Normally you accrue annual leave while on maternity leave - so basically you can take it after your mat leave ends. Not an expert but don’t see any reason why the rule would be different just because you have consecutive periods of leave. Perhaps take a look at this website which is usually quite helpful.

maternityaction.org.uk/advice/pregnant-during-maternity-leave/

Their internal policy isn’t able to overrule the law. They either have to pay you for it or let you carry it over (including bank holidays if you usually have them as paid leave)

You keep earning the leave.

Your work can ask you to either take a lump sum payment to cover it or that you take it as one chunk before returning to work.

You can also use it to work part time.

Chat to your HR and see what they say. They most likely will either suggest you take it as a lump at the end of your second maternity leave or they pay you for the first years leave.

Thank you for all the information and thanks @Fleur405 for the link! Tbh I rather just get the amounts given in a lump sum but also makes sense to end my maternity leave early and have the remaining weeks down as annual leave. Once I've let the company know I'm pregnant and that my maternity leave is continuing then I'll ask what I can do with the leave. Thanks again:)

Agree with others, in your situation I would end mat leave 1 at the end of Feb, technically return to work at the beginning of March, but then take the whole of March as annual leave before then going on mat leave 2 in April. Obviously you can adjust those timings for the amount of leave that you have built up! That will have the advantage of giving you a full month’s pay just before baby 2 arrives.

It accrues as normal. Your employer must let you carry over the statutory part of your unused days (28 days if you work 5 days a week) into your next holiday year.
Personally I wanted the time more than than money. But didn't want to tag it on to the end of my mat leave.
I took a whole years maternity leave. Rolled my annual leave into the next year. Which meant I had loads of weeks to play with in my first year back. It was great.