NHS maternity leave

[cheekybunny]

Hello! I have just started a new roll with NHS in February. I am due a baby in September. I plan to take all of my maternity leave accrued between April-August , during August , before I start my maternity leave. My question is during my years maternity leave will I continue accruing annual leave? My contract just now is 22.5 but due to childcare I plan to reduce to 15 hours when returning. Will I get my full annual leave on 22.5 hours when I return, so for example instead of 7 weeks annual leave id be entitled to in September 2027, I drop my hours but still have the same annual leave entitlement so I’d have aprox 10 weeks ? Is this possible/allowed? I’ve heard different opinions?

Usually you only accrue annual leave for the part of the maternity leave that is actually paid by your employer rather than the unpaid element or pure statutory maternity pay. Since you have not worked for your employer very long we may not qualify the the additional paid top ups to the statutory maternity pay, I work in local government and I think staff have to be employed for 2 years to get the extra pay on top of statutory maternity pay. Best to check with your employer.

I think I’ve already accepted I’ll have to be on maternity allowance 😫 I’m okay with that though… I just hoped I would get a decent amount of annual leave when I returned! Xx

Have you worked in other nhs roles before this or just started with nhs this role(so you won’t get smp)? You should accrue annual leave at your contractual rate during ml(do you really get 35 days?) but there is no guarantee you will be able to reduce your hours on your return even so.

I worked on the bank before! Payroll said they aren’t sure I’ll get SMP but need to check xx

Yes, you will accrue at your usual rate (in hours). You’ll accrue 48.75 hours between April and end Aug which won’t cover you being off for the whole of August though.

You’d accrue 117 hours for the year on maternity, plus 36 for Bank holidays. Don’t assume they will let you reduce to 15 hours though: you have the right to request but not for it to be approved, and with the financial challenges in the NHS right now they may not be prepared to lose those hours.

Bank doesn’t count as continuous service so you won’t.

yeah this sounds about right. I just was wondering if I do lower my hours to 15 per week would my annual leave earn whilst on mat leave stay the same? Xx

They will accrue at whatever you are contracted to. If you change to 15 hours before mat leave it will be at 15 hours. Otherwise it will be at your 22.5 hour rate. But they don’t have to agree to you reducing to 15 hours.