Can I do other paid work whilst on Maternity leave?

[marleymooo]

Hi everyone, a little bit of advice would be great. I work for the NHS and am due to start maternity leave at the beginning of February '14. I'm hoping to take 39 weeks, so the usual nhs rates apply. I have been offered some very lucrative (well lucrative in my eyes!)locum work, and if it panned out the way I would hope I could do maybe one day a week locum work from baby is around 6 months old-this would allow me to actually take another 3 months unpaid leave from my job as it would top up my smp/unpaid amount sufficiently to survive!

Can anyone advise if is this a huge no no? If I take this work on during the smp period do I sacrifice my smp? Or worse, if I take it on at all am I compromising my job?

Many thanks in advance :)

I think you will be able to however for the day you work you will have to sacrifice your smp. Which won't actually be that much cos it's approx £500 a month.

Thanks so much little tulip I had assumed I might lose the weekly or monthly amount of smp. If its daily it would be more worth my while. Thanks again x

How does this work if you are on MA rather than SMP, does anyone know? As far as I am aware, you can't do any work apart from KiT days on MA without your MA being stopped (which is shit, as if you are self-employed, easing yourself back in with a day a week in order not to lose clients is the sensible thing to do).

Who will be your employer for the locum work? If you will be self-employed, this doesn't affect SMP.

If it is a different employer, taking the job will mean ending your maternity leave.

If it is the NHS, then you can work 10 paid KIT days without SMP being affected. Any more than 10 days and you will lose a week's SMP for each part week you work

www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/e15.pdf See page 27.

Unfortunately Littletulip is incorrect. Unless you are self employed for the locum work then by returning to any sort of employment you are ending your maternity leave and your pay would stop. You would need to speak to your employer as they would probably expect you to return to work at this point. Sorry.

Oh, and KIT days as Noble says :)

Thanks ladies. It's complicated, I'm in Northern Ireland, and the locum work is in the ROI. So for the 1day I have done for them already I gave a receipt - they pay direct into my bank account, they have my national insurance details and assure me they will sort tax etc and I'm covered under their indemnity, not self employed but not employed by them either! I did come across that link this morning noble giraffe thank you. I'll speak to hr to be sure just wanted a heads up.

Noble do you know how it works for MA? Is there another guide? I couldn't find one.

The DWP says you can do 10 KIT days, and you need to tell the job centre.

www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/specialist-guides/technical-guidance/ni17a-a-guide-to-maternity/maternity-allowance-ma/changes-you-must-tell-us-about/

Aah I was thinking about KIT days. Glad others know more

I know I can do 10 kit days, but then it's all very vague and discretionary beyond that point, which is frustrating. I have tranches of well-paid work come up which might only be a week or so, and I need to know if by doing so I would lose my MA from that point forward, or whether I'd be better off turning it down, and I can't find any guidance. It seems more clear for SMP.