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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Will I lose 9 Bank Holidays?

20 replies

Newmummytobe79 · 18/04/2011 16:50

Hi, my boss has told me she's not sure I will accrue Bank Holiday's whilst I'm on maternity leave. I don't think they were mentioned in my contract and I know there's no mention of anything maternity related in it.

She is going to check with her HR person (small company so external HR) and come back to me with an answer.

She has said that if I find any links to confirm I should get my Bank Holiday's to send them to her ... has anyone a magic link I can have to save my precious 9 days!

Just think it's so mean that we don't benefit from Bank Holiday's when we work full time!

Sorry to moan - just on a downer as everyone around me seems to get some help from their company (one person 9 months FULL pay!) and I'll be on piddly SMP which doesn't even cover my outgoings.

Moan over :)

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tunnocksteacake · 18/04/2011 17:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ChasingSquirrels · 18/04/2011 17:05

you get your contractual holidays, if you contract is such that you get Public Holidays, then you get them when you are on maternity leave.

theonlyhb2 · 18/04/2011 17:05

i dont get what you mean......why would you accrue bank holidays on maternity leave? do you mean you should get them as extra holiday days when you go back?

StiffyByng · 18/04/2011 17:05

My employer pays me additional days for bank holidays but I think that's not statutory as far as I know. It must be a real pain to lose out. I hope someone can produce some good news for you.

ChasingSquirrels · 18/04/2011 17:07

here

Original poster

Newmummytobe79 · 18/04/2011 17:11

Hiya ChasingSquirrels - thanks so much for posting this link but I think that just applys to annual holiday not Bank Holiday x

OP posts:

theonlyhb2 · 18/04/2011 17:15

i never thought they would include bank holidays in with that as you get paid for them anyway (well, normally when full time) so if they are paying you SMP or whatever, then why would they gve you bank holidays as extra days off/pay? bank holidays are a bonus to have off, surely?!

CherryPie3 · 18/04/2011 17:19

I think maybe it is up to the employer. I'm currently on maternity leave but have just been told I can use the bank holiday lieu time, and annual leave to tag onto the end of my leave - I am contracted to 3 out of the years bank holidays (tho they are paying me for 5 for some bizarre reason), even after I honestly told them).

I never got my bank holidays with my previous employer whilst on mat leave.

ChasingSquirrels · 18/04/2011 17:21

it doesn't just apply to annual holiday it applies to your CONTRACTUAL holiday.
You are entitled to 28 days minimum, your employer may give that as 20 days plus the 8 days bank holidays.
Or you may get more, say 25 days plus the bank holidays.
You contract will clarify this.

Then, the law says that you are entitled to your contractual holiday - if you contract is such that you get bank holidays normally, then this is what holds when you are on maternity leave. They are included in your total leave and you accrue them.

ChasingSquirrels · 18/04/2011 17:22

the law in this area has changed a lot over the last few years, as various cases and directives clarify the matter.

theonlyhb2 · 18/04/2011 17:22

thansk squirrel, I am gonna get reading my maternity pack and contract! could do with some extra days

PrincessScrumpy · 18/04/2011 17:23

A lot of employers now include them in the holiday allowance which means you would get paid for some of them - I don't think you acrue all the holiday. I have a feeling that I got the holiday I would have accrued over 9 months and the last 3 months of mat leave was unpaid and didn't include hols. I had to take the holiday days but they couldn't be carried over so a friend of mine lost all the holiday as her son was born at an "awkward" time of year and no holiday could be carried forward. I got 4.5weeks. Seemed very unfair. Now I work in a school, I get money as I can't just take hols outside of school holiday time. Every company is different.

Original poster

Newmummytobe79 · 18/04/2011 17:24

Hi theonlyhb2 - it's looking like you don't get paid for Bank Holidays whilst on SMP. When working in a full time job you get the day off paid - so why should you lose 9 days pay whilst on maternity leave? Another way at looking at it is that you probably do get around £20 odd pounds for it (if you split down your SMP) ... but all your colleagues who are still in the office will be getting paid the usualy day rate - which is a lot more than £20. Overall it means I'll be down quite alot of money/time - as it would add nearly two weeks to my maternity leave.

OP posts:

Iggly · 18/04/2011 17:25

Have a read of your contract. If it says you get x days plus or including bank holidays, paid, then that accrues on mat leave.

It's not your responsibility to be looking for links - the external HR provider should have legal experts!!

urbandaisy · 18/04/2011 17:25

I think Business Link is the best place for info for employers as it makes clear what their responsibilities are -- their page on maternity leave and annual leave/Bank Holiday entitlement is [http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1080902982&type=RESOURCES here].

It does depend on what your contract says, and how much annual leave you get a year. But you continue to accrue your full statutory annual leave entlement of 5.6 weeks a year.

Your contract should set out whether you get bank holidays on top of this (which would be pretty generous) or whether this is including bank holidays (so it is made up of 20 days annual leave and 8 bank holidays in England and Wales).

If your contract says, say, that you get 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays per year, you would accrue 33 days leave while on maternity leave, to be taken on full pay.

You also need to look into whether they'll let you carry it across leave years a friend of mine was recently caught because her work didn't tell her before she started her maternity leave that they wouldn't let her carry her leave entitlement across two leave years her mat leave was exactly half in one leave year and one in the other, which made it pretty tricky. If she'd known in advance she would have started her mat leave early instead. She's now fighting her employer over it as they weren't clear on this when she set her mat leave dates.

urbandaisy · 18/04/2011 17:26

Ech, I messed up the link! It's here: www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?itemId=1080902982&type=RESOURCES

Original poster

Newmummytobe79 · 18/04/2011 17:27

Ooh - thanks ChasingSquirrels! I get 25 days holiday so it's looking like I may gain at least 3 of the days back :)

OP posts:

Original poster

Newmummytobe79 · 18/04/2011 17:28

and thanks Urbandaisy ... I'm off for a read!

OP posts:

ChasingSquirrels · 18/04/2011 17:29

I was just about to post the Business Link link as well :)

urbandaisy · 18/04/2011 17:31

Great minds, ChasingSquirrels!

I'm always a bit baffled when managers hassle their employees about this stuff when Business Link is sitting right there and it's usually reasonably easy to find the info. Makes being someone's manager an awful lot easier, I think!

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