Annual leave when returning from maternity leave

[PinkPanther27]

Hi ya, my maternity leave has been started by hr cos i am off sick with a pregnancy related illness. We have just started a new leave year so i have my full years leave entitlement. If i take the full year as maternity can i lose that leave or do they have to carry it over? Am i able to take some of the leave now before my due date to use it up or is it compulsory maternity leave now cos of the sickness? Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi, In my case I was able to roll over some of my leave into the new leave year but I would check out your annual leave policy to see if and how much you can roll over. Re compulsory maternity leave starting because you are on sick leave, I seem to remember that this is the case but I would check with your HR and perhaps look it up on direct.gov, as I found this website useful when trying to get my head around maternity leave.

All the best,

Clare
www.clarekingcoaching.co.uk

they can start maternity leave if you have a pregnancy related illness within 4 weeks of your due date if i remember correctly.

In my company, in this situation you would have been paid for your holiday that you had accrued but been unable to take. we would also allow you to have some holiday before hand, but once ML started, it would continue.

so, if holiday year ran from 1st April, and ML from 1st April, the following march, would receive additional 5 weeks pay.

hth

Thank you, I cant find my maternity policy at the mo but hope they agree with what you say aquafunf - I have 33 days to take!

Hi there
Pretty sure your holiday entitlement accrues throughout your maternity leave unless that spans two holiday years - though you may be required to take some or all of it at the end of your maternity leave before returning to work (that is, you get an additional few weeks off!)

Here's what directgov says:

"Holiday entitlement

You build up all your entitlements to paid holiday through all of your Statutory Maternity Leave. This is even if your employment contract says you are entitled to more than the statutory minimum.

You can add holiday to the beginning or end of your Statutory Maternity Leave. You may not be able to carry over untaken holiday entitlement if your Statutory Maternity Leave goes over two holiday years. It is often best to take this at the beginning of your Statutory Maternity Leave."

www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Moneyandworkentitlements/WorkAndFamilies/Pregnancyandmaternityrights/DG_175088

In my experience, it is better to take as much hols as you can before you start ML, if you can do that, hopefully your baby will not show up too early ! it is a pain to get them paid afterwards especially if you do not bring any revenue to your employer.
After my first ML I had to fight very hard as my contract only allows to carry forward 10 days into the following year and I accrued 25 days during ML on top of the 10 days I carried forward. I am in admin so don't really bring any revenue and my employer was very reluctant to pay them. In the end I managed to get them paid but spread over 6 months.
This time, I will take them before I go. Lesson learnt.

My firm allows us to carry over up to 30 days but I don't know whether that's their discretionary policy or the law, sorry, you'd have to check with your employer. I'm just back at work now and using my 25 days accrued leave from last year to take a day a week off for the first 6 months back (whilst still getting paid for full time). Which, if you ask me, is a very nice way to do it. Taking Wednesdays off makes SUCH a difference to how hard it is coping with a whole week.

Hi ya, I havent been able to use any of this year's leave because Ive been signed off sick past few months and the new leave year started in April. This means I ahve my full years entitlement to take but I was hoping to take a full years maternity leave so I would return in May but that takes me into the next year (leave wise). Under normal circumstances we are allowed to carry over 5 days (begrudgingly!) but I have 33 to take! I've emailed HR about this and got a response but I wasnt sure what they meant:

"In terms of your maternity pay and leave, it has been triggered to start early as you are currently absent with a maternity related illness. However, as you have been unable to take the annual leave that you planned to take before hand, this will be carried over with the leave that you will accrue whilst you are on maternity leave, therefore you will be able to take it before you physical return to the office. You can either chose to take your annual leave at the end of your Occupational Maternity Leave, which will mean that you will incur a period of nil pay or you can chose to end you maternity leave early and then use your accrued annual leave on a full time basis to return to full pay."

i cant seem to think straight - think Im confused by the term Occupational Maternity Leave - do they mean the full year of the additional 26 weeks or first 26 weeks??

Hi PinkPanther

I do not know either what Occupational Maternity Leave is. Have you checked your employment contract ? You should get it clarified by HR.

The law refers to Ordinary ML for the first 26 weeks and Additional ML for the following 26 weeks, but there is no mention of Occupational ML.

You are lucky you can carry over so much. If Occupational ML is Additional ML, then in your shoes, I would end ML at the end of the first 26 weeks of Ordinary ML, you would have accrued half of your annual leave by then and add 33 days to these so that you get paid but would still be at home with your LO.

This being said, I would save 5 days just in case LO gets sick when it starts going to nursery or childcare... Just from my own experience, my DC just caught every single passing bacteria or virus in the first year of childcare ! If you do not use these 5 days, you can always carry them forward ...

Or you can choose like Ecuse to work 4 days a week and get paid for 5 for almost 8 months... and then you would save on childcare

Lots of option here for you, lucky PinkPanther :)

Thanks Hpbp, however I dont think they'll let me keep the 33 days as it will be a new leave year when i return - thats if I go back beginning of May as i plan. Last time I returned after ML I asked if I could take 2 days leave a week to use up my leave but they made me take it all in one go so unfortunately wont be able to do what Ecuse is doing although that would be my preferred action. Still havent got as response back from me asking them to explain what they meant - just wanna be put out of my misery lol

So you have 33 days to use before April?

Or 28 + 5 carried over?

Hi Harriet, yes 33 days from this years entitlement to take before april. But maternity leave wont finish till next May.

They are allowing you to take it (plus AL you accumulate while on mat leave) at the end of your 12 months mat leave. You have the options of 9 months with maternity pay, then 3 months unpaid mat leave, followed by your paid annual leave, before you return to work. Alternately you can forfeit the 3 months unpaid leave and take your paid annual leave then.

Thank you bunnyspoiler for putting it into simple terms for me lol I was hoping that was what she meant but didnt wanna get my hopes up. Hurrah! I'm hoping to breastfeed so knowing I can have a year off is really helpful