Can I work bank shifts on maternity leave?

[Toastytoes1]

I am employed full time in a permanent role for one NHS Trust but also work occasional bank shifts for another Trust; I don’t have a permanent contract with them, only Bank.
I start maternity leave next month and had been planning to do the very occasional bank shift with my second Trust, not actually for the money but because if I don’t do any Bank shifts with them in 6 months then I’m automatically removed from their Bank and would need to reapply so I planned to just do 2 or 3 shifts over the year of my maternity leave to ensure I stayed on the Bank.
But I’ve now heard that you can’t actually do this as it could affect your maternity pay from the main employer.
I honestly don’t care about making the extra money, although that would be a nice bonus, I do want the full year off with no work with my baby but I do want to keep on the Bank as my full time job is not clinical so I like to keep the Bank to maintain those clinical skills.
Can you go on maternity leave with the Bank? I know they won’t pay any maternity pay but could I officially be on maternity leave so that I can not do a shift for a year without losing the Bank. Or have I misunderstood and the very rare Bank shift won’t actually affect my maternity pay?

Thank you in advance.

Call ACAS and ask them for advice

Could you use them as KIT days?

You can't do a bank shift if you're receiving maternity pay elsewhere.

Your bank might allow you to go on leave so that you don't have to do a shift but mine didn't as they argued that I would be de-skilled. I joined an agency instead and make FOUR TIMES the amount per hour.

At my trust you can’t do this. Can’t get my head around why, total pain in the backside, especially as trusts remove staff from their bank.

No you cant work during your maternity leave while in receipt of OMP/SMP. You can work if you are unpaid at any point. I have a substantive post and work for an agency also and the agency have frozen my account while I am on maternity pay. I think you would be looking at disciplinary action if you were to work.

When I was on a nurse bank for an NHS trust they said that if you knew you were coming back after the usual cut off like maternity leave or travelling they'd freeze the employment. They just had the 6 month rule so they didn't have people who just stopped working without informing them on their books indefinitely.

No you can’t work bank whilst on maternity leave. It counts as a return to work and your maternity pay will be stopped. It’s something I get asked a lot at work but the policies are very clear.You can remain on the bank whilst on mat leave but you will have to update your training after your leave before you can pick any bank shifts up.

Thank you all for your answers. I can’t use them as KIT days because its a different Trust to my full time job. I’ll speak to their HR and hopefully get them to freeze my bank whilst I’m off.
Thank you

It sounds discriminatory to me that bankstaff effectively cannot take sml without being removed from the list.

maternityaction.org.uk/advice/rights-for-parents-with-more-than-one-job/ this suggests to me that you can do bank work during your leave as you would be registered with them 15 weeks before the birth

The same rules apply if you do casual work, ‘Bank’ nursing or you are a supply teacher. You will be regarded as employed in the 15thweek before you baby is due if you have a contract with the employer/Bank/agency or you have evidence that you did some work for the employer/Band/agency up to the 15thweek before your baby is due, e.g. payslips or letter/emails confirming your employment, and you have evidence that you continued to accept work after the qualifying week or you intended to carry on working for the employer/Bank/agency after the birth. If you are not sure, you can get advice from HM Revenue & Customs.

These rules apply to all types of agency work, such as ‘bank’ nursing or supply teaching. For more information, seeRights for parents withmore than one job.

Contact the bank and let them know u r on mat leave from substantive post with another board and you are looking to do bank shifts at the end of your Mat leave so can they “freeze” u so U don’t get automatically removed.?

I do admin for our nursing bank, we put a note on their file to say they are on maternity leave and not to close, so worth asking

But my link shows that you can do bank shifts while on mat leave as long as you were registered and had done shifts with them before week 25 of pregnancy

What was the outcome? Were you allowed to do bank in another trust whilst on mat leave?