Maternity leave schools

[Mumofthree86]

Hi,

Just a question about maternity/working in schools.

I’ve had three maternities while in the private sector and now my first in education and I can’t believe the difference.

1. I started maternity on a Thursday so I have been told I wasn’t due any wages for that week as I didn’t work a full week.
2. I’m on a term time only contract but they don’t take into account at all days worked/days paid.

I can live with the second part even though I’m shocked but the first seems crazy! No one told me when I said my last day would be Thursday, I would have obviously worked Friday as well if I had realised.

Is this normal in education?

I work for local government and I'm not sure about the pay aspect, but I was told if I started maternity half way through a week, they would have started my maternity from the Monday just gone rather than the Monday after. Also the same about coming back from mat leave. Maybe the pay bit is that you'd technically be on mat leave from the monday of that first week so you'd get mat pay rather than actual pay?

You’re allowed to start maternity leave on any day of the week you choose and they cannot dock your pay for the rest of the week if you’ve worked it. Go back to them. Also check the maternity policy and see if it says anything weird.

Thanks both, I never actually had a contract and I wasn’t eligible for maternity pay as I only started in September. But if they’d have told me if I don’t work the Friday I won’t receive any pay for that week I would have either just worked it, or not worked at all that week. It just seems really unfair! I have asked whether it is in a contract (even though I never saw one or signed one.)

It’s simply not going to be the case. You must get paid for days you work. If they dock your pay for days you worked just because you started maternity leave later that week, that would be an unlawful deduction from wages and also would be pregnancy/maternity discrimination.

Thanks. I thought I was going crazy, he said - those are just the DWP rules we don’t make them. But I know it can’t be as I’ve never had this issue on a maternity before. It’s really awkward as I don’t want to be a pain but they overpaid me (happy to pay what was overpaid in error) but it just seems unfair that when there was only one day I didn’t work in month they want me to pay back a whole week’s salary.

Are they asking you to repay a week's salary because they have started your maternity leave from the previous Sunday, OP?

Is this a state school, academy or independent?

No contract is a real problem though.

I know I was stupid for not chasing up a contract. It was a 12 month ta position term time only, but they’ve offered me a teaching position after maternity. They knew I was pregnant when they hired me. It’s a state school.

I think that is why they are asking me to repay the salary, because maternity weeks run Sunday to Sunday. But my maternity allowance wasn’t starting till the following Sunday. They never said that I wouldn’t get paid for that week, if I had been aware I would have just worked the Friday, I had a hospital appointment at 12 so knew I wouldn’t be able to work most of the day so just said I’d finish Thursday.

Thankful for any advice, obviously don’t want to make a fuss about it but feel like it’s unfair.

”those are just the DWP rules we don’t make them.”

Absolute nonsense.

Years and years ago it used to be the case that you had to start maternity leave on a Sunday. But that hasn’t been the case for a long time.

I think my first step needs to be asking for an amended payslip as they’ve just sent me an invoice which just says maternity overpayment. No calculations or dates.

No contract? Unbelievably shoddy. Ask for it - it has your dates

You can get your union rep to help. They are used to school shenanigans.

I’m wary of getting a union rep to help only because I’m literally starting teaching there and dont want to be a pain.
They have been good in lots of ways like hiring me while pregnant and offering me a teaching position but they are very shoddy on the paperwork side of things, I’ve asked them a few times things like how does my salary work (term-time, pro rata etc) but they don’t tell you anything 😬 Also it took over two months from giving them a matb1 to getting the form to apply for maternity allowance. It’s just a horrible situation as I feel like they are in the wrong but don’t want to give the school in general the impression that I’m difficult.

As Flowery said, they don't have to start maternity leave on a Sunday but if they haven't even backdated it to the Sunday before I am mystified as to why they wouldn't pay you for the days that you have worked. Absolutely get details of the 'overpayment' in writing.

Just an update if anyone is interested. They say the employee has to start maternity on a Monday. If a baby is born midweek, the mothers maternity leave/pay period begins on the previous Sunday. They say this is not usually a problem as most women gets six weeks full pay but appreciate this is unfortunate in my case as I will not get paid for that period. I’ve contacted the union.

Get put the burgundy book OP! It has all of the rules etc in there.

*out