Holiday entitlement during maternity leave - advice please

[oysterpots]

I'd written to my employer stating that I would be starting my maternity leave 4 weeks before EDD and taking a week of annual leave before that (thus finishing a total 5 weeks before EDD), and hoping to take the remaining annual leave at the end of my maternity leave - will be desperate for the cash at that point.

But this morning my boss came in to say she'd read something that means I have to take all of my annual leave before I go on maternity - something to do with EU regulations enforcing annual leave being taken to avoid losing it.

On the DTI website it says:
It will, though, usually be possible for an employee to use any untaken annual leave either before she starts her maternity leave, or once her maternity leave has finished.
But it also says:
Employers and employees will often find it useful, once the woman has given notice that she is pregnant, to incorporate annual leave arrangements into their planning. This is particularly important if the employee plans to take a whole year?s maternity leave, as it is not possible to carry over statutory annual leave from one leave year to the next, or to pay the employee in lieu of any untaken statutory annual leave unless the contract is terminated. It is, of course, up to the employer and the employee to agree between them whether to carry over or provide pay in lieu of any untaken contractual annual leave above the statutory minimum.

So which is it? Can I take it at the end or not? Is it up to the employer's discretion? Is the issue not that I want to take it at the end per se but that I would be carrying over annual leave from this year to next (our holiday year runs Jan-Dec)?

i think it depends on the company, i've just gone on mat leave and my company regs allow women on mat leave to carry holiday over from one year to next if they have been on mat leave. but they also allow pay in lieu of holiday.

I work in local government and get quite a lot of maternity leave, but have had to take my annual leave for this leave year - running to my anniversary start date in May 2007 - before starting maternity leave - so I just started today and I'm due tomorrow. But because I get 40 weeks (16 full, 24 half pay) my annual leave next year and what I've had now takes me to 49 weeks - I might take a bit of unpaid maternity leave.

We're allowed normally to carry forward 5 days annual leave from one year to the next but not necessarily to carry forward more for maternity leave.

Do you get any contractual annual leave above minimum statutory, as this appears to be something which your boss could be flexible on? - that bit sounds like a very complicated rule I wasn't aware of.

My baby is due in August and as my maternity leave spans two years (our hol year runs Jan-Dec) I have to take all my holiday entitlement before I begin maternity leave.

Our handbook states "during the period of your ordinary maternity leave (26 weeks) you will accrue holiday entitlement. If your maternity leave spans two calendar years, you must arrange to take all holidays accrued up to and including your ordinary maternity leave (if before 31 December) before you commence your maternity leave. Otherwise you will lose your holiday entitlement".

I'm not that fussed really as I'm probably not going back after maternity leave anyway. I guess it is down to each individual employer.

Are you expecting to deliver early?

Otherwsie, to avoid the porbelm, can you not just delay your maternity leave and use the annual elave instead? The effect is going to be neutral. Maternity leave doesn't have start until your deliver the baby (or the Sunday before it, if I recall correctly). If you are worred about the fact that money will be tight at the end, make sure to put what you "earn" on holiday leave befroe the due date into a special savings account, not to be toutches until the end of your time off.

Yes, I suppose you're right. I'm just being a bit stubborn because they've already messed me about loads with my maternity pay (it's a tiny company without an up-to-date staff handbook, and no provision for anything beyond SMP).

It also worried me that employers can force your ML to start 4 weeks before your EDD, whereas if I took all my annual leave I would be starting ML 10 days before EDD - I didn't want them to start my ML early if I got sick which would mean losing my annual leave... But actually that's irrelevant if I'm going off 5 weeks before EDD, isn't it?

Oh, I'm getting myself in a right old tizz. HR is complicated!

I think your company might be right,if you're not going to be back within the holiday year to take your annual leave then you need to be given the chance to take it. I think that you should call ACAS to check, I know that I started ML early by taking my holiday before hand, but I wanted to do that. I dont think they are allowed to just pay you what they owe as its something to do with the working directive. Could be wrong as I have been out of the loop for nearly a yr now & my brain is going mushy as I start my 2nd lot of maternity leave next month!!!!