Do I have to let work know when my baby is born?

[Daisychain185]

I have just started maternity leave with an agreed return date of September 2025. Am I required to let work know when my baby is born?
I imagine most people do but just wondered if it is a legal requirement?
They have revoked my email access and access to the work file system since mat leave started, so I am being kept out of the work loop and as such don't really feel like sharing my personal news with them.

No. You should not be accessing systems whilst not at work. Any more than someone off long term sick should be

Also means you can’t do keeping in touch days etc

Perfectly normal to have access removed. Mine was reinstated for my first KIT day. I think you're taking this very personally.

"They didn't do it for my last maternity leave so it's not normal practice."

They've probably changed their policy. Why on earth would you need access while you are off? Your training calendar needs to be paused for a start.

Not true. Access can be switched back on. KIT days may also be a day in the office with meetings, catch ups and discussions rather than computer based work.

Depends- if you've started mat leave then maybe not but if you intend it to start the day your baby is born then yes!

It can be totally normal for many employers. In fact you often have to relinquish your laptop in lots of places until you're back, it's then used by your temporary replacement. I think you're taking this more personally than you need to be.

I think you're framing this wrong. As far as I understand it, removing access to work systems when you're on any kind of long term leave like mat leave or long term sickness is to protect the employee and to ensure that anything that lands in your inbox is dealt with (ours have an ooo on that gives alternative contact details) because not everyone knows you're on leave.

Out policy got changed after someone on long term sick was regularly having to contact work and pass on messages and information because they were still getting emails and had access to the systems and at times, when they couldn't raise an answer fast enough for the other person, were just sorting things themselves, 'can't you just' from customers being a big one. That's unreasonable when you're on any kind of leave to have to deal with that, removing access to the systems and emails ensures that can't happen.

It's a system that protects the employee when they shouldn't be expected to deal with work and ensures that anything that does come in is dealt with in a timely manner by someone else.

In my last job, we would lock the accounts of anyone who was absent for more than 3 months, be it maternity, long term sick, sabbatical. The accounts were locked, so you couldn't log on, and we stopped them filling with a ton of emails, but they weren't deleted as leavers' accounts would be. It's normal in many companies, because it is good practice- maybe your employer has just caught up with thus since your previous mat leave?

(I don't know what they do in my current job as I'm not long into it, but as I've come across accounts from my predecessor which haven't been terminated, I suspect they're not as organised.)

If you are receiving Maternity pay then yes you would as Maternity pay is calculated from day baby is born unless you started maternity leave early.
Also how long ago did you start your maternity leave as you say you are being kept out of the loop ? Surely it's not that long if baby not born yet ??
It's pretty normal to revoke accesses but your line manager should maintain some level of contact however if baby isn't born yet it's early days and not unusual to not be kept in constant contact.
It's seems you are upset by the revoking of the accesses but it is usually for your own benefit not to keep you out of the loop. If you don't yell them your news it will hardly be conducive to maintaining good relations will it ?

Why not? I'm still an employee. Should I not have the same access rights as other employees?

But you aren't working right now, so why do you even need access to your emails?

It isn't usual to be able to on mat leave.