NHS mat leave and public holidays

[izzybizzybuzzybees]

Ok. I'm nhs worker and know I get to use holidays before starting mat leave. What happens with PH allowance. I work a 0.5 job share so get holidays then 4.5 PH days. This was calculated as we were supposed to get the day for jubilee so I was entitled to half but I actually worked the tues so would be due a day.

It gets confusing! Last time I was pregnant I was entitled to 8PH but my manager said only 4 due to mat leave as would be off Xmas and new year. So that would mean I would be entitled to only 2?!

Any ideas?!

I work for NHS too and starting mat leave this week (yey!) I will be taking my remaining annual leave for 2012/13 now, before mat leave officially starts. Then before I go back next year, I have to take any leave accrued between April 2013 and when I return PLUS all the bank holidays I will have missed, which apparently will be 7. I was surprised that I get the full bank holidays, but that's what I've been told. I am currently full-time though.
Don't know if that helps at all!!

Do you mean nothing for Xmas and new year because they don't fall on your normal working days? That doesn't matter - you're still entitled to them (in proportion to your part time hours).

Iggly when I was pregnant in 09 they said that cos I would have started mat leave when Xmas and new year fell I wouldn't be entitled to them. Same happens this year. In 09 I should have had 8 PH days but they said I was only due 4 as would be on leave from October. This year my normal entitlement should be 5 as half of the normal PH and then 1 for working jubilee. They argue that itd be 4 for full time workers who stop for mat leave so I get 2 as I'm half time!

I am a NHS worker and didn't get any PH
during mat leave. Perhaps different trusts have different policies?

Am confused?! Can you dig out the hr policies? I'm not NHS but public sector. I'm entitled to bank holidays when on maternity leave. We get 8 days (I think) so I get 8 when on mat leave. Part time it's pro rata - so I get 3/5.

i'm NHS and didn't accrue public hols while on mat leave

It is confusing. I work every monday and i end up losing out as i am 0.5 contract usually i am entitled to 1/2 so that means 4 yet i need to take easter mon, may day, sept mon, 2 at xmas and 2 at new year depending where they fall and what my christmas shifts are so in theory i can end up being off 7, using PH days for 4 and the other 3 come out of annual leave! Its sucks!

I guess its just tough but means this year they will say i am entitled to 2 as that is half of the ones i am there for.

I work for the NHS 3 days a week. I get a pro-rata number of PH which are added on to my annual leave. If a day I normally work falls on a PH then I have to take it as annual leave.

When I was on mat leave I didn't accrue any PH leave. The year that I came back I accrued a pro-rata number of PH to add onto that year's annual leave, based on how much of that leave year I had actually worked. For example, if my normal hours were 2.5 days a week ( so 0.5 FTE), and I came back from maternity leave at the beginning of October (so half of that leave year left), then in addition to my annual leave (which I would accrue when I was on mat leave), I would have 0.5x0.5x8=2 PH days to add to my accrued annual leave, assuming 8 PH a year.

This may be different in your trust, as some of these replies say they do accrue PH when on mat leave. Surely it should be the same for everywhere? Just another thing to dislike my Trust for!

Does that make any sense? Sorry about all the brackets, I struggled to explain it!

That makes sense bionic. Very weird all the trusts seem different tho as surely AFC was meant to synchronise and standardise these things!!

I'm NHS and I got lied to about my holidays!! I knew it but didn't care coz I just wanted to finish I got told I couldn't take my AL before ML (which isn't true), but they weren't going to allow me to carry them forward to the next holiday year, so basically I had to bring my ML forward to accommodate sufficient time to get my AL before the end of March next year. As someone already said, another reason to hate the Trust I work for at the moment. Like I said, I didn't care too much as I have to return (booooo), and I will still be off the same length of time, and I was so sick and knackered that I still would have finished at the same gestation, through AL//ML. To answer your question though, whilst I accrue all my AL when I am on off, I don't accrue the PH's that occur throughout my ML.

I work for the NHS 3 days a week. I get a pro-rata number of PH which are added on to my annual leave. If a day I normally work falls on a PH then I have to take it as annual leave.

When I was on mat leave I didn't accrue any PH leave. The year that I came back I accrued a pro-rata number of PH to add onto that year's annual leave, based on how much of that leave year I had actually worked. For example, if my normal hours were 2.5 days a week ( so 0.5 FTE), and I came back from maternity leave at the beginning of October (so half of that leave year left), then in addition to my annual leave (which I would accrue when I was on mat leave), I would have 0.5x0.5x8=2 PH days to add to my accrued annual leave, assuming 8 PH a year.

This may be different in your trust, as some of these replies say they do accrue PH when on mat leave. Surely it should be the same for everywhere? Just another thing to dislike my Trust for!

Does that make any sense? Sorry about all the brackets, I struggled to explain it!

Blinking heck, stupid phone! I meant to say that I've been thinking and the way they calculated my PH makes no sense. How can I have a pro-rata amount of PH of the year I was half on mat leave if I don't accrue PH on mat leave? Surely it should be the number of PH I actually worked x 0.5? So Xmas+ NY=2, then 2x0.5=1? Ah well, it looks like I ended up with more PH leave the way they worked it out! I know my mat leave calcs were complicated because I hit my 5 years service when I was off on mat leave.

AfC doesn't seem to have standardized things at all. I am a lab assistant and have worked for three different trusts doing the same job and been band 2, 3 and 4 at different trusts. In fact, at one trust I was band 3 and doing the exact same job as a band 5 does at a different trust.

Bionic surely if you returned in the oct you would get half of what you would have been entitled to. So if full time that would be 4 then if half time contract then that would be 2?!? God only knows what they do!

As far as I know you do accrue PH while on mat leave, because you aren't in a position to take them at the time, because you are on mat leave.

If you are on maternity leave over Xmas and new year, you get the PH accrued on return - same as you would annual leave because you haven't used them. The maternity leave has trumped the PH and AL so you take those later.

I'm another one who won't accrue any bank holiday leave whilst on ML - I always thought that was standard NHS policy? Check your trust's maternity leave policy document, it'll say in there.

Legally you're entitled to them when on mat leave if you get them on top of your annual leave. I'd challenge them to check what they're doing. They can't take away a benefit because you're on maternity leave (as I understand - I'm not an HR expert).

Seems some trusts give them and some don't. I will be in work tonight so I will check policy then.

Annual leave needs to be taken for me prior to mat leave as my leave runs into next tax year.

You can't carry leave over to the next year I assume?

It sounds like they've written it so that your annual leave excludes bank holidays. They then say you can have your statutory leave during maternity leave but no bank holidays. I don't know what the law says but I you're entitled to bank holidays contractually you should get them during maternity leave too (as your contractual rights remain in place). Your union rep might be able to explain (if they're any good) as it sounds like a shitty technicality.

No we cant carry any over. We uses to be allowed to carry 5 days but it was changed a few years ago so couldn't carry any. I'm not sure why tho!

Our PH days are in addition to annual leave days so I think you may be correct about it being a technicality!

I can't carry any over either, I've had to fit my whole year's entitlement into 3 months! (which has been quite nice actually, it means I've been able to break up my weeks when I feel rubbish!) Our policy has been checked and signed by a union rep so I can only assume it's legal and above board.

The thing is mine are in addition to annual leave so I accrue them.

I have had a google and the law changed in 2010. Not sure exactly but you are entitled to the same benefits you get while at work. That includes annual leave. Public holidays, I would argue, is annual leave just extra days. read this

I'd ask HR if they've changed their policies in light of the 2010 Act (I remember my employer did check but they didn't need to change except for pay rises) and why are they treating public holidays differently to annual leave.

You are entitled to them if they are paid days for other staff. In your case, your employer has implied they are paid days because they're giving you the days pro rata to use even if you're not scheduled to work those days. Therefore to pay the days to FT or full year staff but not to you because of maternity leave is discriminatory.

If FT staff were not paid for PH days, then staff would just get them if they were scheduled to work and there would be no pro rata entitlement for PT staff. In this case you wouldn't be entitled to them because no one is getting paid for them. This doesn't apply to you.

With regard to carrying over, I think it is unusual to allow PH to be carried over, even where employers allow you to carry annual leave. So take your PH before you go! But when you come back from maternity leave, you should be credited with accrued annual leave and PH (pro rata, obviously).

I found lots of useful bits on the Internet when I looked into this, but it all hinges on whether a 'normal' member of staff gets paid for the day or whether it is an unpaid day. The fact that your employer adds a pro rata PH to your annual leave implies (I.e your contract might not mention it but their actions are making it so) that PH days are paid and everyone has the same right to them regardless of PT hours, part year working, maternity leave, etc.

Good luck with the discussions! Don't give in and they'll let you have them ;)

Hi, I calculate all the maternity entitelments for our workers and in our trust you dont bank holidays while on maternity leave.

I've just been told that the rules changed this week and we can now accrue bank holiday hours on maternity leave, so I need to fit 20 hours annual leave in before I finish on 9th July

Those of you working for trusts who up until now have said you don't I'd be checking if I was you, it was literally decided days ago for us