Working up to (or past?) due date

[Chaiandtoast]

Does anyone know how the mat leave request works if you go over your due date?
my plan ideally is to work until the moment I go into Labour, so I can have the most time off afterwards.
so do I give my due date still, and just have to go off then? Or am I allowed to keep working after my due date? Obviously this may be irrelevant but I keep hearing with the first I’m more likely to go over.

Just to add, I appreciate my plan wouldn’t be for everyone, but I work entirely from home, and work completely flexi hours, so I can rest and take naps and do whatever I need to. So I know I’ve got it quite easy compared to others. I’m sure if it gets too much it’ll be easier to ask to go off early, or to book holiday or to get signed off sick than it would be to push the dates back later too.

Legally you can work past due date, right up until birth. But doing that can be a bit annoying for you as you won't get any of your paperwork etc regarding your maternity pay in advance because you won't have a set leave date.

You won't however be able to go off sick for pregnancy in the 4 weeks before due as you'll likely trigger your maternity to start automatically so if you change your mind and want to go earlier you'll probably need to use annual leave.

I'm planning to finish work at 38w (currently 37w), take a weeks annual leave and then start mat at 39w. Like you i wfh and physically I'm in great shape still but I'll tell you, mentally I'm really ready to go on leave and prepare myself for babies arrival. I really would advise you to at the very least not go beyond your due date, mentally I think it would be super tough going straight from work to the delivery room.

I gave my due date. Ended up going into labour early with my first.

How are you going to ensure a proper handover etc if you don’t give a fixed date and when will your cover start? I think it’s better to get everything sorted properly.

I'm not sure about working over as I went into labour at 37+5 with my son but I was working when my waters broke and plan to do the same thing this time too. It's definitely doable! I actually have a physical job of pet care, mostly group dog walks and was running around the park before my waters broke 😅. It's my own business so my clients know my due date as I could randomly cancel anytime around then x

Thank you all so much, this is very useful advice. Obviously with it being my first I have no idea how I’ll feel at that point either so it’s good to consider the mental space of going from report writing to the Labour ward!

besides telling people I’m on mat leave now, I won’t need to do any sort of handover by that point.

I think your due date is the latest you can go off.
I did that and went into labour 2 weeks beforehand so my maternity leave started the day he was born. This was ideal for me as personally I didn't want the time off beforehand, particularly had he have been overdue.

I had this exact same problem. Legally, you can work right up until you give birth but because nobody can predict that if it's not a planned c-section then it's basically impossible for workplaces to facilitate it so I just ended up having to start my mat leave on my due date.

I've been told the latest my mat leave can start is my due date, but I think different employers may be different.

I think different employers have different policies. The last date I was permitted to work was my due date so I finished on the Friday before.

Check your employer policy, ours is that you have to start mat leave by your due date.

The latest for me was the week of my due date. So I started maternity leave that week but took 2 weeks holiday before that so I had time to relax from work without using any mat leave

I worked up until the day I gave birth which was 2 weeks past my due date. Like you I wanted to use all my leave for when the baby was here. I was working from home so it was easy enough and gave me something to do whilst waiting for baby to arrive! I was given an induction date, so I just emailed HR with that so they could amend my mat leave start date. I am sure they can do the same if you email the day you go in to labour (or ask hubby to!). Of course check you mat policy as they vary. I hope to do the same this time around.