2 lot of Maternity Leave in a row

[ksty]

Hi all,

I'm currently on maternity leave from my 1st baby nearly 9 months old now and my 2nd baby is due in June. I've got a meeting with my HR dept and line manager next wk and I'm wanting to go in there know what I'm entitled to.

My 1st lot of maternity leave is due to end 14th May and the latest I'll be able to start my next lot will be 28th May so I don't have to go back into work at all if I start my 2nd lot straight away. I pretty sure I'll have earnt enough to qualify for SMP again. But I'm not sure what happens to my annual leave that I will have accrued for this year, last time they made me take most of it (except 3 days which they allowed me to role over to this year) before starting my maternity leave. I know I will still have accrued a full year if I take my full mat leave entitlement this time but do they still have to let me take it?

Also I've read that they don't have to give me my job back but they do have to offer me a suitable alternative which is fine but I read something last night saying that if you take additional mat leave on top of your ordinary mat leav they don't have anyway. With me already having taken aml with my 1st preg I am reading it right then - they don't have to give me my orignial job back anyway even if I wasn't preg again?

I'm hoping that makes sense and that someone can sheed some light on it because its really beginning to stress me out.

Thanks for any help you can give me

I am not an employment lawyer but:

1. Yes, if you have already taken AML they do not have to give you your old job back. The second maternity leave is irrelevant.
2. Normally you have to take annual leave before the end of the holiday year in which your mat leave finishes (this is practice in companies I know, not universalised certainly not law). Given the holiday time is paid at your normal rate rather than SMP, I would think about taking the holiday you have accrued before the next lot of maternity leave, especially given that, if you time it right, it can mean you go back on 90pc pay for the first 6 weeks of the upcoming leave. Will post link to rules later,am on the phone now.

Sorry "not universal AND".

Now: Smp and holiday. SMP for the first six weeks is 90pc of your average gross earnings between 23 and 15 weeks before your due date (roughly). I don't know your due date, but if it's around mid-June. If so, you might want to think about taking holiday between now and mid-March, so as to increase your earnings for the 90pc period. However, you would then either need to take more holiday or start your second maternity leave early, which you might not want to do. Check the link below, use their calculator and think about it.

Details here: www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Expectingorbringingupchildren/DG_175917