Another one about maternity leave & holiday!

[PopcornMouseInBoots]

I work for a very small company with no HR dept (besides which, they don't know yet!) so I thought MN might have the answer...

I'm due early October, so will accrue a lot of holiday over the year ? company policy is that we cannot carry days over to the next year. Legally, can I save my holiday til September and take it just before my maternity leave, to give me a break on the run up to my due date? What happens if I give birth a week early, say ? does SMP kick in automatically when I give birth and I have to forfeit my (paid) ?holiday??

It's up to your employer. There is nothing legally stopping you, but also nothing legally entitling you to do so.

It would not be good practice for your employer to allow you to take no holiday between now and September - that's not good for your health. But if they allow you to save up all or most of it and use it before mat leave, there's no reason you can't do so.

Maternity leave automatically starts when your baby is born so yes you might lose your holiday. I'd suggest in those circumstances asking your employer if they would agree to waive the 'no carry-over' rule in the event of your giving birth early, and/or don't rely on taking holiday right up to your due date, take it up to a week before, minimising the risk of that happening.

Thanks flowery - I don't intend to save it all but usually have some left by October and wouldn't want to forfeit it iyswim!

A secondary question (should I start a new thread?) - I am PAYE for my main job, but I'm also registered as a sole trader. I make less than £800 a year through the sole trading but registered so as to pay my taxes as I should . Is there any action I need to take as regards to this? Will it affect my PAYE maternity pay entitlement at all?

Also, part of my sole trading activity involves selling files that people download and buy via paypal without any action needed from me iyswim; this can rumble on while I'm on maternity leave, but will generate around £10-£20 a month I'd have thought. Will this complicate things?

I will ring HMRC at some point (I'm only 9 weeks, so loads of time) but wondered if anyone would know off the top of their head :)

You can do as much work on a genuinely self-employed basis as you like without affecting the SMP you receive from an employer, so as long as you are self-employed for this other stuff rather than employed by your own limited company or anything, you are fine to carry on.

Oh amazing, thanks flowery - yes, I'm genuinely sole trading rather than doing the limited-company-while-actually-contracting sort of thing. Thanks so much for your advise :)