Annual leave/maternity leave

[Mrs Eleflump]

Is it normal (in the UK) that you have to use up all your annual leave before starting maternity leave?

I have a bucketload of holiday left (4 weeks, 3 days, somehow ) that I was hoping to add on to the end of my mat. leave to spend an extra few weeks with LO, but I've been told today that I have to take it all before I go on maternity, i.e. it has to be used before the birth.

Apparently this is at least partly due to the fact that I'll still be on maternity at the beginning of April when the tax year/annual leave year ends, and normally we have to use up all our leave by then, except in special circumstances, where if we're lucky we're allowed to carry a week over into the April.

The only way I can get the annual leave at the end, apparently, is if I have LO early, because maternity leave starts at the latest on the day LO is born, even if I'm booked on annual leave at that point. If I had LO early, my holiday would then be saved and added to the end of maternity leave.

I can definitely see the advantage of having a month off before LO comes to get organised and try to relax a bit, but as I'm not taking the full year - I planned on 6-7 months - I wanted to have the annual leave at the end, so I could spend a little extra time with LO, rather than use it before the birth, so I'm a bit upset.

I'm going to email the union rep tomorrow to see if he has any insights, but in the meantime, has anyone else encountered this? What did you do?

(Thanks for reading my essay, and I apologise to all of the USA ladies, who probably think I'm whining over nothing! )

 

[cjwn]

Edited.

 

[Mrs Eleflump]

Hi, thanks for that, it's really helpful!

The 23 days holiday is basically all my remaining holiday until March 31st 2015, so it includes holiday I technically haven't earned yet, as some of it will be accrued while I'm on mat. leave. Feels odd being told to take it before I've earned it!!

As far as bank holidays go, I'll have the Christmas and New Year ones, and probably Easter, while I'm on leave. I imagine I'll be back at work for the May BHs and definitely for the August one. I'm not sure if the allowance I have left includes the BHs that I'll be off...the boss said that was 'unbooked' leave so that indicates to me that it doesn't - we don't get a choice about working those days or not, as the dept is closed so we have to take them, so they normally don't figure into our holiday 'allowance', if that makes sense?

Maybe HR will clarify all this stuff with me when they formally notify me of maternity pay allowances etc...it's all so complicated!

But good to know I'm not being spun a line about using up annual leave before starting maternity, as annoying as it is, if I have to do it then I will make the most of it

 

[Kitters]

Why don't you want to use it before your mat leave? The only reason I can think is that you don't want to finish work until you give birth?

I'm using mine just before, so I will have about three weeks off before my due date which will be holiday, then my maternity will start around my due date.

The reason I'm doing that is to push back the lower SMP as late as possible.

 

[kitty_el]

When I was on mat leave last year with my dd I was able to use my annual leave when I returned to work after, I also accrued all my bank holidays. I am going off in September this year and will have a couple of weeks of annual leave 36-38 weeks before my mat leave starts.
I work for the government and have a very good maternity package though so it might be different for other people xxx

 

[Mrs Eleflump]

Why don't you want to use it before your mat leave? The only reason I can think is that you don't want to finish work until you give birth?

Pretty much, yeah, I want to work as long as possible so I can have more time off with the baby, and I sort of see a whole month off before the birth as wasted leave that I could have spent with LO, you know? If I'm on annual leave I'm getting paid my normal rate, if I take a month's extra maternity leave, it'll be lower rate SMP, and there's a massive difference between that and my normal earnings.

 

[CastawayBride]

In the US we can carry our time over, other than being docked 5 days....

 

[Enasy]

yup same with me. My annual leave runs from january to december and I start my mat leave in september. Any holiday I have remaining and haven't used up yet will be added to the beginning to the mat leave. However holiday is still accrued while you are on mat leave so when you return to work the following year you will have gained holiday you should be able to use at the end

 

[Twelvty]

I don't get to take it as holidays, I get paid for any days I am owed, apparently.

 

[laurabe]

I guess it depends on employer. The policy in my work says "if possible" use annual leave before finishing for mat leave. Though it isn't always possible especially during the summer when colleagues have their holidays booked. So then annual leave would just be added in at the end. I have 2 weeks annual leave befor my mat leave starts which works out quite well for me

 

[Mrs Eleflump]

However holiday is still accrued while you are on mat leave so when you return to work the following year you will have gained holiday you should be able to use at the end

Unfortunately I will be going back around May, and as my annual leave year starts in March, I won't have that mich time accrued - maybe a week The holiday I will accrue from Oct 2014-end of March 2015, I am going to have to take before I go, according to the boss - it's part of the 23 days she's talking about that I have to use before I start mat. leave