Advice regarding work

[pollypocke]

Hello,

I have a 13 month old little one and have just found out we're expecting again, due in Dec. My maternity leave ended in Feb but I couldn't go back as I'm currently struggling mentally. I'm still off sick at the moment and wasn't planning on going back for a good few months. I'm just worried about if I'll be entitled to any maternity pay when I go on leave again if I don't go back and stay signed off? I do have all of my annual leave to use for this year so could I just use all of my annual leave in between now and starting maternity? Any advice much appreciated as I've no idea what to do for the best!

Congratulations on your pregnancy! (I'm also due in December ☺️) I'm sorry to hear you've been struggling mentally. It obviously depends on your situation and your line of work - is there a trustworthy member of the HR department who you could discuss this with confidentially? (If your work has an HR department, it depends). If they're funny about a second mat leave if you haven't come back, can you make a flexible working arrangement in the meantime like working from home? I'm a teacher so that would never be an option but it depends on your profession. Also, as soon as your workplace know you're pregnant, they cannot legally discriminate against you and are also legally required to make reasonable adjustments.

Your mat pay will be calculated between weeks 17 and 25 of your current pregnancy. What are you getting as sick pay?

The key to that being “reasonable”.

(HR Director).

I'm getting just the standard SSP which is £116 I think but I only do 4 days a week

You’ll need to earn the minimum average weekly pay to qualify for SMP, I can’t remember exactly what it is but I want to say £128. I could be wrong though so check gov.uk

If you aren’t entitled to SMP you can claim maternity allowance which your HR team should explain to you. I think it’s the same as SMP minus the 90% pay part at the start.

If your work are nice they shouldn’t have an issue with you remaining off sick if you need to and then taking another mat leave. You might want to ask if they can get you an occupational health appointment though to see if there’s anything that can be done to facilitate a return even for a short period.

You need to check the specifics with your workplace and contract but what might be good to aim for would be a phased return on reduced hours so you are at least working towards getting back into work before the maternity pay calculation period?
You can ask your GP for a fit note that says no more than 2x half days a week for example, then review things after a couple of weeks to see how you're doing.

As others have said, it will be financially beneficial to you to be back at work between weeks 17 and 25 of your pregnancy if you’re only getting SSP.

If I took all of my annual leave between week 17 and 25 of my pregnancy would this count towards SSP? As I'd be getting full pay for annual leave

Do you have 8 weeks worth of leave to take? You’d have to technically return to work to take it (ie come off sick leave) to take it. Going off sick again afterwards might be treated as a second absence and lead to absence management procedures.

what are you doing to get well? Have you been referred to occ health yet?

I get 28 days annual leave plus 8 bank holidays. I'm having a lot of input from mental health teams and I have been advised against going back to work so soon

Is that the full time leave entitlement? You said you do 4 days a week?

@OneMoreTime23 Ah yeah it is! Not sure what mine would be with me doing 4 days but yeah that's based on full time hours

If you’re 0.8 of a full timers hours then 0.8 of the leave and BH entitlement.

Should have been broken down before you went on mat leave?

@OneMoreTime23 I took all my annual leave before I went on maternity last year but I can't remember how much I had to use. Would I be able to stay on sick but ask to use my annual leave between the qualifying weeks so my maternity pay won't be affected?

@OneMoreTime23 I just checked and I get 26 days annual leave per year. Would I be able to take the 26 days as annual leave during the qualifying period?

As @OneMoreTime23 says you'd have to end your sick leave and return to work in order to then take annual leave, you can't be on 2 types of work at once.

No you can’t stay sick and use annual leave. You either stay sick and get your sick pay or come off sick and ask to use annual leave (they don’t have to say yes to using annual leave exactly when you want to).

How long did you take off on mat leave?

If the full 12 months your best case scenario is that you have 27.2 days including BHs which is 6.8 weeks at 4 days a week. Not enough to cover the qualifying period either way.

How pregnant are you?

could you go back ASAP and use the leave to reduce your working week to 2-3 days for a period (on full pay)?

@OneMoreTime23 I'm only 5 weeks along so very early. I was hoping to maybe use 2 days annual leave a week and either take the other 2 as sick or unpaid during the qualifying weeks as this will mean I'm earning £123 a week so would be entitled to maternity pay

You can't be on sick and on annual leave.

Either you return and take annual leave - this can be down to employer's discretion though whether they'd let you take it all at this time and in one go.

Or you stay on sick but your earnings would be taken on the basis of your income between week 17 and 25.

Good luck

If you want maternity pay you’re going to have to go back to work for the qualifying period. There’s no way round this, you can’t be on sick leave and have annual leave. Your work also doesn’t have to let you take all your leave in one go for that period.

As per others. You can't be off sick and take leave. You will have to return to work for the qualifying period to improve your maternity pay, and as per others your work is under no obligation to let you take your annual leave how you are proposing.

If you did two days leave a week and two days sick you would be opening a new absence episode every week and would then be in line for absence management procedures. You would also have to start a new period of absence if you went back to take annual leave and then went off again. Have you checked your sick leave policy in terms of conditions of pay, escalation etc! Have you got a plan to help you work towards returning to work? Hopefully the professionals you're working with can support. Given your situation I think that probably needs to be your priority.

Absolutely not. Unless you want 30+ periods of absence on your file (which doesn’t appear to be pregnancy related). Your employer will not allow this.