Kit days in work pay

[Galaxy27]

Just seeing if anyone can help me before I kick off on work 😄. I’m on maternity but have done a few kit days, got my wage slip and iv had a minus on the amount I’m actually earning, it’s like I’m only getting paid a just over half of what iv earned, it’s named on my slip as ‘kit hours offset’. iv never heard of it, so googled it, says my employer should’ve agreed to the amount I would be earning before I started my kit days, I just assumed it would be extra money and wouldn’t go against my maternity pay as noone had told me any different, so basically I’m working for half the amount of what my wages per hour should be by the looks of it, iv already done 4 that’s will show on next wage slip, has anyone else had this problem? And can I claim back what I’m owed, as I only done them for the extra money in the first place.

Kit days are paid on top of maternity pay so extra

What is detailed in your letter or handbook about maternity leave?
You won’t get the day on top of stat, you get minus the stat and then plus the day rate.

does this make sense?

Keeping in touch days
Employees can work up to 10 days during their maternity or adoption leave. These days are called ‘keeping in touch days’. Keeping in touch days are optional - both the employee and employer need to agree to them.
The type of work and pay employees get should be agreed before they come into work. The employee’s right to maternity or adoption leave and pay is not affected by taking keeping in touch days.
Employees can work up to 20 days during their Shared Parental Leave. These are called ‘shared parental leave in touch’ (or SPLIT) days. These days are in addition to the 10 ‘keeping in touch’ (or KIT) days already available to employees on maternity or adoption leave.

I thought KIT days were paid as extra to Maternity Pay.

It's to help the company and the employee that the employee can catch up with work or fit back into the workplace and get back into work.

My employer paid my Kit days in lieu of my smp so to speak. (That was first baby). After that I made sure all kit days were worked after the first 39 weeks.

“If you work a KIT/SPLIT day during your maternity, adoption or shared parental pay period you must continue to be paid your weekly Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP), Maternity Allowance or Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP), but any additional pay for a KIT/SPLIT day must be agreed between you and your employer before you do any work. Pay for a KIT/SPLIT day can be offset against the statutory pay (as long as you are still receiving at least the National Minimum Wage) so you will not always receive both”

So the employer pays the KIT days but can not claim it back like the maternity pay.

I’m NHS. I believe our policy is that if you work any KIT days while receiving occupational mat pay then there will be a deduction from this. So it makes no sense to do any until you are receiving only statutory pay or no pay (so after 6m).

Do you get occupational maternity pay? And is it within your first 6 months of mat leave? If so it is probably a similar situation to NHS policy.

I had enhanced maternity pay which meant I took home 50% pay. Not great but far better than SMP. When I did my KIT days, I got paid my KIT day, so 100% day rate and the 50% mat pay for the day was deducted. So same as you I think. I didn't mind as I didn't expect to be paid 150% for a days work. I suppose in hindsight they maybe should have paid me my day rate + stat mat, as that's not coming out of their pocket but it's done now.

Maternity pay is claimed back and then KIT Days are paid by employer.

Once your 39 week maternity pay period has ended, any KIT days that you work will not affect your SMP or Maternity Allowance. As set out below, you still need to agree the rate of pay for any days worked, whether that is during your paid leave or your unpaid maternity leave period.

Im gonna speak to my employer cos I don’t get it at all, I was under the impression it went as extra, I didn’t do my first kit day till I was over 6 months into my maternity, iv took 9 months in total, and Iv been doing a shift like I would normally do tbh, it’s not like iv been there as a spare getting used to being back, it’s a betting shop I work in btw, I’d obvs spoke to my manager to arrange the days I would be working beforehand, but there was never any mention that I would get paid less, so I thought it would be extra money, where now I’m left feeling stupid, angry and used as I should’ve checked all this out beforehand, and I’ve already done another 20 hours work for my next wage, and now I know I’ll prob get half 😭😭

no 🥴 I thought I’d get my maternity, then the hrs at my pay rate as extra

so ot seems like it’s upto my employer what they pay me, but nothing was agreed and I wasn’t aware that I’d get less, so I’m gonna have to see if they’ll pay me aren’t I, cos that’s just sly 😭 why would I come into work for half of what everyone else is getting, so I’m sure they should’ve made me aware of this 🤷🏼‍♀️

yes, it doesn’t seem right does it, and my employer should’ve made me aware of this, I didn’t get any talk from my main manager before I went off either, which should’ve happened, hope I can claim it back off them 🤞🏻

Payment for KIT days are usually offset against mat pay, and are therefore financially better to take when you are on 0 pay. If you are on full maternity pay, everywhere where I've worked you wouldn't get any additional pay for a KIT day.

I just don’t understand it all, so hoping It’ll be clearer when iv spoken to them, basically there’s not much point in doing them if that’s how the pays worked out, it’s working for way below minimum pay, i don’t get 100% maternity pay, so something doesn’t seem right, and tbh when iv asked stuff, no managers knew much, but I have done kit days before with the same company, but at the time I was quite new and they wouldn’t pay it and I had to claim through the job centre, they kept my job open and I got paid full amount for kit days.

Also, my kit days have literally been like iv never been away, and iv done a shift like I would usually, only 5 hrs per shift as that’s all was allowed, but iv not been put on the rota, there’s just a gap where I’m in, so no other person has been scheduled for the time I’m in, if you get what I mean. Seems so unfair not get full wage for time worked 😭

You are getting full wage, you're just not also getting SMP on top of it.

You can’t be better off working a day when receiving maternity pay than you would if you weren’t.

Can you put some numbers to it or share a copy of the payslip without personal details?

Have they deducted the maternity pay then paid you 5 hours of your normal rate?

I’m still unclear, would it work out better if I didn’t do them🥴 I don’t actually mind going in tbh, but I am working not just sitting there, so I’m like 🙃

You are not financially worse off by doing a KIT day but your pay for the day, including maternity pay, will not be higher than one day's pay. So if you get 100% mat pay then you won't be paid any more money for a KIT day. If you get 0 mat pay then you get fully paid for the KIT day. And if you get eg 50% mat pay then the max you will get for a KIT day is 50% of salary.

I’m £11.60 ph, looks like my maternity is getting paid at 10.20 ph, I done 10 hrs kit days and they deducted £49.5 from that. So seems no point really in doing the kit days, as iv gotta find childcare, get to and from work when I don’t really have to. I just think I should’ve been made aware of this, cos it is upto the employer on what they’ll pay, iv not been given a handbook regarding anything about maternity, but also I didn’t ask so 🥴 I’ll just enjoy rest of my maternity now 😀 soon be back there normally

SMP is £24.64 per day. Assume you aren’t getting more than that.

if you work 5 hours at £11.20 you should get

(11.2 x 5) = £56. Is that what you have been paid? It may be £24.64 and £31.36