Any teachers out there? Returning after maternity

[APW24]

Hello ☺️

I am returning from maternity leave on the 24th of Feb, part time, 2 days a week. I will be returning 18 weeks pregnant with my 2nd. I’ve told the head and she was amazing about it all.

Now I’m starting to panic about pay. I’ve contacted maternity action who were really helpful and explained that my qualifying months for receiving SMP again are February and March pay days. I need to earn £125 a week on average during these months but hopefully over £187 so I get the full SMP amount.

I am doing KIT days in January and February. I just assumed that I’d get paid a low wage in February, for the KIT days I have done but it would be ok because I would get a full wage in March which would bring my average weekly wage well above what is needed.

I went to see HR about what I would be getting paid in February and March. She said that any work I do in January would be paid in February, any work I do in February would be paid in March. This means that we are paid a month behind so I won’t be getting paid for any work done in March, in March. Is this correct? I’m just confused because when you go on maternity leave, you receive 100% for the first 4 weeks. Isn’t this just the money owed for the work done the month prior? Maybe I’m just not understanding correctly.

HR then sent me what I’m predicted to be paid. April onwards is my full wage and what I expected but March is a random amount, pretty much half my full wage. I obviously haven’t completed a time sheet for the KIT days I’m doing in Feb, so it doesn’t include these. It would literally just be the 2 days that I’m doing before the end of Feb and this doesn’t add up to the amount on what I’m projected to be paid, which makes me think the payroll cut off is later than the last day of the month.

It would be really helpful to me if anyone could share what their pay looked like when they returned from maternity leave.

I hope that this makes sense. I’m only so obsessed about it because I know how important my wages in Feb and March are for SMP.

I’m going to ask the head if I can do a few more KIT days in Feb to hopefully make up my March wage. I’ve only planned in 5 so hopefully she will be ok with a few more if I explain the situation.

Any advice would be great,

Thank you!

Congratulations! And happy to hear that you are in a school that is so accommodating. I am not sure about your situation however I used https://www.teachersspl.co.uk/ for my maternity pay and what to do in terms of when to go back etc. It might be useful 😀

Yes, KIT days in the public sector at least are paid a month behind. Can you do some KIT days before the end of Jan?

And no the first four weeks of mat leave are nothing to do with paying you what you're owed for the previous month's work - it's a month of pay starting from your first day of mat leave.

And yes, look into using SPL cleverly - as a teacher it can MASSIVELY increase what money you get when off on mat leave!

@Green44 Thank you for the reply. This makes sense with KIT days, I’m guessing so it’s enough time for them to be processed etc.

Do you think that I should be receiving my full monthly salary in March when returning on the 24th of February? Surely I will be back on contract then and therefore working as normal. I hear teachers talking about the best day to return before the holidays etc so that they get their full pay. It just doesn’t seem correct. Our HR person is new to school also so I just want to make sure I’m getting paid correctly - especially for the months needed for SMP!

Thank you.

@BeAgileBear Many thanks, I have been meaning to look into SPL ☺️