maternity leave on honorary contract

[Chloris33]

Just wondering if anyone is in this situation, or is a lawyer who might have idea of the rights of women working on an honorary contract (which means it's a voluntary unpaid role). I've been working as a psychotherapist on an honorary contract for 3 years in the NHS to gain (unpaid) experience early in my career.
People in the service are suggesting that I can't take a maternity leave of absence and return to the service without having to reapply and go through the (very long 6 months +) vetting procedure again. This doesn't seem right to me in terms of gender equality: feels discriminatory?

can you speak with someone in HR in the organisation you are currently with? should be confidential and most NHS institutions have big-ish HR depts... as for being re-vetted, does seem over the top and verging on discriminatory towards women, another thing I would get HR to look into. If you have a contract, there must be someone there you can ask