KIT days nhs

[Soundbathfan]

I am band 8 nhs and was planning to take KIT days early on to help the service out and to make up a bit of pay. The main driver was that I am a clinical lead for a service that only runs to end April so thought I'd carry on helping them out til then.
I've been reading Mumsnet (far more helpful than my trusts policy!) and I am NOT a happy bunny as I've spoken to HR directly and my managers and no one has batted an eyelid about my plan.
Plan was to go off on mat 7 Dec for 9 months
Do KIT days when pay drops to half plus smp, so starting Feb
1x feb
1xmarch
1 x April
Then spread equally across the remaining months or do a few more a bit later on.
I now understand thanks to Mumsnet that I'll basically be earning nothing for those days I do before pay drops down to SMP only and even then it'll be pittance, and most people don't do any til 9-12 months for this reason?
Can anyone confirm if this is correct? Feeling very grumpy that no one has told me in my trust and the policy is crap!
Thanks

Kit days give you your full days pay,so no point doing them until SMP months or 0 pay months if you are taking the whole year.

No benefit to you doing them on decent mat pay as it willjust top up to full day regardless, it isn't extra

And this is the case even when I'm on half pay plus smp?

Bump

If you're on half pay plus SMP I think it would only top up to full day rate. I've only ever heard people say to do them in the unpaid portion at the end of Mat leave for this reason. It cancels out the SMP or something

Yes, basically they can and most likely will offset it against what you're already getting. So you won't end up getting half pay + SMP + a day's salary. You'll get your money that day topped up from half pay + SMP to your day rate. But check with HR.

But financially it'll be best to do them in the unpaid portion if you're taking any, or at very least the SMP-only part.