Working while on maternity leave

[OneForTheRoadThen]

Just wondered if there is any way around this other than KIT days.

I’d love to go back to work after just a few months maternity leave, I really enjoy my job and after my first child I was lucky enough to have my flexible working request approved.

Problem is, I’d be a lot worse off and I would no longer qualify for tax credits and would be paying 2 lots of childcare.

Does anyone have any advice if you’ve been in a similar situation?

I'm a bit confused, your thread title and initial sentence seem to be about perhaps wanting to do more paid KIT days while on maternity leave than you are entitled to, but then the rest of your post seems to be about the fact that when you return to work from maternity leave, because you earn less than two lots of childcare cost, you'll be out of pocket. Two different issues, surely?

In answer to your KIT query, you can do extra days while on maternity leave if your employer allows it, but you'll lose SMP for the week when you do them.

In respect of your query about being worse off after paying two lots of childcare on your return, presumably you were aware of this beforehand. Were you planning to not return from maternity leave at all and are now wanting to?

Is it possible to change your working hours so that you work at times your DP/DH isn't working, or at least some of the time, so you minimise the need for paid childcare?

Sorry for being unclear @flowery. I do want to return early but will be worse off because when I’m on maternity I will receive tax credits. I won’t receive them when I go back to work but my first child will receive the 30 free hours so it will be manageable. He won’t receive them if I go back early so it makes no sense for me to go back earlier although I would like to. I was wondering if there is any way, other than KIT days that I could do hours at work and keep SMP.

Btw did you mean if I do a KIT day I sacrifice SMP for the whole week? I don’t understand what the point of them is.

”I was wondering if there is any way, other than KIT days that I could do hours at work and keep SMP.”

No, you can’t go back to work and receive SMP at the same time.

The point of KIT days is to enable women to come back in for meetings or a few odd days at work during her maternity leave so that she keeps in touch (clue is in the name!) with her workplace while she is off, and so she doesn’t lose out financially. You get 10 of them (by mutual agreement) which is plenty to achieve the purpose they were designed for.

If you do more than 10, you lose SMP for the week. SMP is largely funded by the taxpayer so it would not be right for women to be costing the taxpayer money to be on maternity leave while they were actually back at work earning money.

I understand what a KIT day is for, my question was about why would anyone do them if they lost SMP for the week but now I understand that it’s only if I do more than 10 KIT days that I lose SMP for the week.Thanks for your help.

Oh I see, I assumed you were asking about working other than KIT days because you’d already done all 10 so needed something else.

Ah I see, no I haven’t started my maternity leave yet but had a meeting with my boss yesterday where we discussed possible options.

It doesn’t look like I will be able to go back early after all.

I work for the NHS and if you work even one KIT day in a week, you lose SMP for the entire week. This is because SMP is a weekly payment and cannot be divided - you either get it or you don't. I was not informed of this and ended up working KIT days for nothing. I took out a grievance and this was the official answer, although they agreed I had been misled and gave me extra annual leave to make up for some of it.
However, and it is a big however, your employer does not have to deduct any SNP from you unless they are a public body like the NHS whose pay arrangements are set in law. So your company might pay you wages on top of maternity pay.

I am on maternity leave at the moment and have done seven KIT days so far. I get full pay for the KIT days and I also get full SMP.

Depends on who you work for if they pay for for KIT days or not

I didn’t get paid for KIT days until I returned to work, this is also worth bearing in mind if you are doing them for financial reasons