Annual leave 9 weeks before due date

[Honeycomb245]

Seeking opinions/ experience....my leave year runs April-April (gov job) and baby is due at the end of May. My boss has asked that I take all my 2024 annual leave/BH allowance before maternity leave starts, leaving me at home doing nothing for 9ish weeks before baby arrives (assuming they're on due date!).

Is it unreasonable to want to carry 50% leave to use after maternity leave ends? It seems a waste of time being home alone all those weeks before, when the time could be spent with my baby after. Thanks for any opinions/ advice.

That's a fair point, it would take the OP to end of March so would technically be allowed. As you say, one to check with HR and the contract/handbook. Things like this make me glad I went into accounting and not HR!

@lougle yes I think I'll check with them before I have any more discussion about it. Make sure I have the facts.

Would they consider paying you instead?

Check in with HR and don't take your line manager's word for it.

Why would you have to take bank holidays for next holiday year in the this holiday year? It doesn't make sense. I'd speak to HR.

I'm convinced employers have to let you roll over all your leave to take after mat leave but not looked for the policy.

Happy to be proven wrong but I believed this was only if it wasn't possible to take before maternity leave, which in this case it is.

They have to let you roll over leave if you don't have the opportunity to use it due to ML. The issue here is whether it is reasonable to expect @Honeycomb245 to use all her leave for 2024 before the baby comes. She technically has time to do so if she starts her AL on 1st April and baby doesn't come until the end of May.

Yes, I have the opportunity to use the majority of the leave before baby's arrival, so it will be to the employer's benefit that its all used up (bar a few days left over)

@Honeycomb245 could elect to take her ML from 29/31 weeks which would be mid-March/start April. That would make it impossible to take her leave. But all it would mean is that she would take leave at the end of ML in March and still return in May 2025. Whereas @Honeycomb245 really wants to start ML in May and return in June/July 2025.

9 weeks does sound a bit long but I had 6 weeks leave in a similar scenario and it was bliss. You’ll never get a chance for so much me time ever again. I baked, painted, browsed galleries, caught up with family, read, watched TV, did walks and yoga, feasted. I’m so glad I did Dc is nearly 12 now and I don’t think relaxing time like that is on the cards for at least another decade 😂

Agreed but that would mean the employee would be choosing to start mat leave earlier rather than there just not being the opportunity to take annual leave beforehand. Either way seems a lose/lose situation for the OP.

This is massively unreasonable! You are legally allowed to carry annual leave into the next year when you're on maternity leave.

I am also due in May and will be carrying a few weeks worth of leave into 2025 to add on the end of my maternity leave and my employer is perfectly happy with this.

@Honeycomb245 have you looked into shared parental leave? It’s a scheme the cover offer where you can take your maternity leave in blocks. So for example you could go on maternity leave when the baby is born then you would declare yourself off of maternity leave & go back to work after a few months but use your holiday so you don’t actually go back in & then declare your second block of maternity after your holiday is finished. Look into it

Spoke to HR this morning and yes...all annual leave must be used before my maternity leave starts! I can carry over any bank holidays that don't fall in april/may 2024, but that's it!! 🙄

I'm really shocked at that! I'm also due in May, work in government (albeit devolved) and have 51.5 days annual leave/bank holidays which I will be taking at the end of my maternity leave - HR approved. I'd be tempted to speak to someone else in HR...

I would ask if you can take it all at the end of your leave instead so you can get paid and not have to do the unpaid but at the end

That is absolutely bonkers. I'd be tempted to submit a grievance about the policy and force them to justify their position. Is it specified anywhere in writing (contract, policies, handbook) that if your start date allows it, that you have to take your leave before you finish up? I wonder if it's because they think sickness rates go up prior to mat leave (if you are sick while on holiday, you can ask for holiday to be converted to sick pay as long as you follow the usual absence reporting rules).

They absolutely can let you add holiday on to the mat leave even if it falls into the next year, I don't really see what difference it makes if you finish before mat leave, or come back a bit later.

Do they have mat cover in place? I wonder if the contract dates mean it's more attractive for you to finish early.

It does seem ridiculous and I wonder could it be considered discrimination as non-pregnant colleagues will have 12 months to use up their holiday entitlement? Maybe a bit of a reach...

They will advertise for a year's cover, but highly unlikely it will be recruited to (posts are extremely hard to fill). The only thing might work is asking to take it as paid maternity period on the other side and return at the same date...as that makes no difference for them.

That’s so strange, I’ve not heard of that at all!

I’d be going back to HR and asking them to point out where it states that in the policy. If it’s not in the policy they can’t really enforce it. Surely they’ve also not given you enough notice to take that time? I work in HR and sometimes we’ll need someone to take a specific week off because it’s quieter, we have to give them 2 weeks notice so basically double the length of the leave. I have to admit that baby brain is stopping me from remembering if legislation is that notice must be double the length of leave that an employer is asking the employee to take or if that’s just our policy.

A poster below has already looked into that. The double notice seems to apply to statutory holidays, so 20 days plus any bank holidays not yet taken. There's enough time for them to give her double notice on all of that unfortunately. We couldn't see anywhere that said with holidays over and above the statutory entitlement they must give twice the notice length.

I've looked up the Acas guidance but from what I can see, there's nothing there that clearly backs you up unfortunately.... https://www.acas.org.uk/your-maternity-leave-pay-and-other-rights/holiday-and-maternity-leave

@Hols24 that's helpful! Although yes, sadly seems to back up what they've told me.

I’m sure this isn’t legal. Believe me, just because you’re speaking to HR doesn’t mean they know the full ins and outs. I’d call up pregnant & screwed tomorrow who would be able to help.

https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/help/

@Hols24 and @FriendlyNeighbourhoodAccountant looks like we just have a good policy on it then.

How annoying ☹️