it's a maternity leave one.

[Panda368]

So my company doesn't have an HR and is American so they have outsourced payroll to a separate UK accountancy company so actually getting useful and reliable information out of them is a nightmare as the US side don't understand UK maternity leave but I just want to check if what they are saying is correct.

I sent my MatB1 over last week with the dates I'm planning to go on mat leave based around by due date. My Due date is a Friday and I basically want my Mat leave to start on my due date.

The company is telling my company that because Mat leave is paid weekly sunday - saturday I actually have to start my mat leave the monday before my due date?

So my due date is friday 26th November and they are saying I have to start mat leave from monday 21st?

Is this correct?

If you are due on a Friday and want to work right up to the date, why don't you just get your Mat Leave to start from the Monday after?

@fluffmagnet you can't start mat leave after your due date.

I've had 3 mat leaves, starting at different times, and never been told that it has to start on a particular day because of how pay is done.

That's a load of rubbish. My Mat leave started on my due date and I used annual leave to finish from 38 weeks. My due date was a Friday. Typically my baby was born early (38+3) and thus my mat leave had to begin the day he was born so on a Tuesday.
This will be the case for loads of people and SMP can be calculated as such.

They've got this wrong.

@mumofmunchkin thats what I thought that it could start on any day of the week and got adjusted.

Basically it means I have to finish a week earlier than planned in order to take all my remaining annual leave ahead of the 21st - which is no bad thing as Im already knackered. But it definitely seems odd.

Nah, that doesn't work like that. I went on holiday a couple of weeks before my due date with the agreement that my maternity leave was going to be automatically triggered the day the baby was born. So unless you don't take holiday and you don't chose your maternity leave to start in advance at a specific date, the first day of your mat leave is the birthday of your baby. Whatever day it is! It is true that mat pay it's calculated weekly but it's up to payroll to make the necessary adjustment and not up to you!

[quote mumofmunchkin]@fluffmagnet you can't start mat leave after your due date.

I've had 3 mat leaves, starting at different times, and never been told that it has to start on a particular day because of how pay is done.[/quote]
Just looked it up and I was wrong here, you can work up until your baby is born even if they're overdue. Not sure it matters to the OPs situation but just wanted to correct myself!

I’d just start from the Monday after your due date. If you have the baby early your mat leave starts from the day after the baby is born - so unless babies are only born in Saturdays then payroll needs to think outside their box!

It is true that’s it calculated that way, but starting any other day just gives them more manual calculation that’s all.

Funnily enough I was due on a Friday and asked to start my mat leave on my due date and it was started on the Monday before. Our HR is outsourced too. I'd never considered it before but maybe it's for the same reason.

I work for the civil service and our maternity policy states that the latest your mat leave can start is the Monday of your expected due week. So I'm in the same situation as you, I'm due on a Friday so can only work until the Friday before. But its written out clearly in black and white!

Yep my (UK) mat leave policy says the latest it can start is the Monday of the due date.

Monday of the due date. If you deliver early then ML is triggered automatically.

On a slightly different note, are you sure you want to go from work to birth suite 😬? Being 40/41 weeks pregnant is no mean feat.

@FTEngineerM oh hell no. I'm taking holiday before I'm planning on starting mat leave.

Looks like i will be stopping at about 37 weeks.
I'm sure my boss would love me to work right up to the line but that definitely wont be happening with an hour 15 commute 4 days a week

They are definitely talking rubbish! Sorry you have to deal with that.