Maternity leave question

[moomoose]

I'm only entitled to stat maternity leave. I've got 2 weeks of holiday left. My (first) baby is due on 23 December. This year, my office closes after work on 23 Dec and stays shut through the Christmas break. Everyone is paid for the 26, 29, 30, 31 December even though none of us work. It's a great perk. My plan is to take 2 weeks of holiday from 12 December, and then start my maternity leave on 2 Jan.

But, apparently I have to start my maternity leave the day the baby is born, even if it's a bank holiday. Is that right? So everyone else in my organisation will be off on full pay over the Christmas break due to a mix of office closure and bank holidays, and I'll only be earning 90%, just because I've had a baby? That doesn't sit well with me, but if it's the law I guess there's not much I can do about it?

@mummyh2016 legally you have to inform them of your baby's birth

Maternity leave legally has to start on your due date or earlier - that's what the MatB1 form is used for. You can't lose annual leave due to mat leave so you'll be able to tag it on to the end of your mat leave to give you the same amount of time off.

I dont think your maternity leave date can be after the due date shown on your Matb1 so you'll need to figure out a different plan

Speak to HR about what annual leave can be taken before and what can be taken after your maternity leave

Here's a link that explains that maternity leave cannot start after the official due date. It's really hard to find the legal phrasing for this on the gov website so this is the best I can find.
www.google.com/amp/s/themumsguidetomoney.com/2021/11/17/can-you-start-maternity-leave-after-your-due-date/amp/

So if those days are contracted then you should get them back after your maternity leave ends, and if it's unofficial then I'm not sure where you stand.

Your MATB1 doesn't actually have your due date on it, my last one worded it as the date of the start of the week your baby is due (with it counting Sunday as the first day). So if you're due on a Saturday your MATB1 would have a date on it 6 days earlier, how does this work? Do you therefore have to start ML on the Sunday or is it just a case of you need to start it that week so you could start it on the Saturday?

I'm not sure of the official rules but I had to start mine on the Monday after the date on the matb1, so a few days before my actual due date.

This is so inaccurate. You can work until your baby is born, even if it's late.

Oh god, I've just seen a few people have said they were told your maternity leave has to start on your due date. I was told I could pick my maternity start date.. I'm worried that now maybe my company was just being really nice!

You can pick your maternity start date, it can be any time from 11 weeks before the due date up until the due date. It just can't be after the due date.

Yes but you’d still get those days banked as well as all other holiday accrued.
it’s normal at the end of your Mat leave to have all of the leave accrued in one chunk so effectively you get paid normally for the last dew weeks of it.

Tbf in my old job I knew of people that started ML after their due date so there must be a loophole somewhere.

Hi OP,

Re: office closure. You cannot be treated less favourably due to being on maternity leave (classed as maternity discrimination). My work do an office shut down (not in contract) but they had written to us to tell us we have it.

I went the bright and breezy option of, should i take them before or after maternity leave (our policy is to take all annual leave etc prior to mat leave). It gave me an extra week and a half holiday.