Maternity leave how many hours

Back Working With Us In this section you will find information aimed at charity fund providers and those working with people in financial need. Back About Us Turn2us helps people in financial need gain access to welfare benefits, charitable grants and other financial help — online, by phone and face to face through our partner organisations.

Working hours: benefits rules - Calculating work hours: Maternity Leave If you are doing paid work for an employer or are self-employed but on a low income, you may still qualify for certain welfare benefits. Which benefits are affected by hours worked? How are benefits affected by hours worked? How do I calculate hours of paid work? Calculating work hours : Employees 5. Calculating work hours: Self-employed people 6. Calculating work hours: Maternity Leave 7. Calculating work hours: Sick Leave 8.

Calculating work hours: Fluctuating hours of work 9. Calculating work hours: Seasonal Workers Calculating work hours: Term Time Workers. Calculating work hours: Maternity Leave Income Support You are not treated as being in full time paid work if you are on maternity, adoption or paternity leave - even if you are a full time worker when you are not on leave.

Working Tax Credit If you are on maternity, paternity or adoption leave or within the first 28 weeks of a period of sickness, you continue to be classed as working the same number of hours you were working immediately before the period of leave. If there is a dispute about whether your maternity pay is repayable or how much is repayable you should talk to your employer to try to resolve it. Your employer may be willing to waive repayment of your occupational maternity pay as part of an exit settlement if you are not able to return to work because of postnatal depression or illness after maternity leave.

If you do not want to return to work and you need to repay your occupational maternity pay, you can ask to repay any company maternity pay in reasonable instalments, taking account of your household income and outgoings. You must be able to cover essential bills and housing costs.

You may find it helpful to speak to a debt adviser who can help you negotiate with your employer and agree a reasonable repayment plan. You can get free regulated debt advice from Stepchange, www.

Do I have to tell my employer how much maternity leave I am going to take? No, your employer should assume that you will be taking all of the maternity leave to which you are entitled.

If you decide not to take all of your maternity leave you should give your employer notice that you are returning to work early. If you are not well enough to return to work after maternity leave you can take sick leave in the normal way. What should I do if I do not want to go back to work? You should resign in the normal way, giving the notice required by your contract or the notice period that is normally given in your workplace. For more information see Resigning from your job during pregnancy and maternity leave.

If you are not well enough to return to work you are entitled to take sick leave as normal. You may be eligible for Universal Credit if you take a period of unpaid leave, see Benefits below. This will depend on your household income, housing costs and number of dependants.

In addition to time off listed above, you are also entitled to urgent unpaid leave to care for a dependant in an emergency. The leave can be used if a dependant falls ill, gives birth or is injured or there is a sudden problem with arrangements for care of the dependant e. You are only entitled to take the time off necessary to deal with the emergency and to make arrangements for the care of the dependant.

You should tell your employer why you are absent as soon as possible and when you expect to return to work. For more information on time off for dependants, see: Time off for Working Parents. What happens to my annual leave if I have been on maternity leave and sick leave for a long time? You continue to accrue annual leave during sick leave and maternity leave.

This means that you continue to build up your normal holiday entitlement as it you were still at work. Under the Working Time Regulations all workers are entitled to 28 days statutory annual leave this can include Bank Holidays. If you get more than 28 days holiday a year, the extra leave is contractual leave which is provided by your employer. You will need to discuss with your employer when you can take this leave. You can take annual leave during sick leave , so you could ask to receive some paid holiday during your sick leave.

You are entitled to carry forward 20 days annual leave if you cannot take it because of sick leave. You cannot take annual leave during maternity leave. However, you can end your maternity leave early, if you wish, in order to go on to some paid annual leave. It is a good idea to talk to your employer early in your pregnancy to agree when you will be taking your annual leave so that you can both plan in advance.

If you are unable to take all your annual leave in the leave year because of absence on maternity leave, shared parental leave or other types of parental leave, the government advises that employers should allow you to carry forward up to 28 days statutory leave to the next leave year, see www.

If your employer offers more than the statutory minimum of 28 days annual leave, it is up to your employer how much of your contractual annual leave over and above the statutory 28 days you can carry forward, so you should check your contract or talk to your employer. For more information on your rights during maternity leave, see Rights during maternity leave and return to work. Am I entitled to sick pay if I cannot return to work at the end of maternity leave?

If your employer normally pays sick pay when you are off sick, you are entitled to receive sick pay if you are not well enough to return to work at the end of your maternity leave. If your period of sickness begins after the end of the 39 or 18 week SMP period you may qualify for SSP if your earnings were high enough.

Maternity Allowance does not count as earnings. Can my employer dismiss me if I am not well enough to return to work after maternity leave? You are entitled to take sick leave and should be treated in the same way as any other employee who is off sick. You and your employer should follow the normal sickness procedures.

However, when calculating your time off sick, your employer must not take into account any pregnancy-related sickness absences or your time off on maternity leave. If you are not employee or you are not entitled to maternity leave, for example, if you are an agency worker or you had a miscarriage before the end of the 24 th week of pregnancy, the protected period ends two weeks from the date of childbirth.

You may also have a claim for indirect sex discrimination if you can show that your employer has a policy, practice or criterion that disadvantages more women than men or vice versa which they cannot justify, for example, where women are statistically more likely to be absent from work due to sickness or are suffering from a pregnancy or childbirth-related illness that only affects women.

If you are suffering from a long term condition, your employer may have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to enable you to return to work and you may have protection from disability discrimination. If you are unable to return to work because you have post-natal depression, see: Postnatal depression and depression during pregnancy. If you are unable to return to work or need adjustments because of a childbirth-related illness or injury, see: Childbirth injuries — rights at work and benefits for new mothers.

There is a time limit of three months less one day from the act or series of acts that you are complaining about for starting an employment tribunal claim. These can be difficult claims to bring and you should seek further specialist legal advice. For more information on trying to resolve disputes with your employer and tribunal claims, see Dealing with problems at work.

Can I ask to reduce my working hours on return to work? All employees who have been employed by their employer for at least 26 weeks have the right to ask for flexible work. You can ask for changes to your hours of work, your days of work or your place of work.

You need to make an application to your employer. Information and application forms can be found on the government website www. Any changes agreed will normally be permanent, unless you and your employer specifically agree to a temporary change. If you want to reduce your hours for a few months to ease your return to work after a period off sick, you must make sure that this is agreed with your employer from the outset.

You will need to think carefully about what type of flexible work you want and how it would fit in with your job. Your employer must seriously consider your request and can only refuse for certain business-related reasons e. For more information, see Child friendly working hours. If your employer refuses your request you can appeal and you should seek advice from one of the organisations listed below.

If your employer still refuses, you may be able to resolve it through mediation, see ACAS. You may have a claim for indirect sex discrimination if your employer refuses to allow flexible work for childcare reasons.

You may have a claim for disability discrimination if your employer treats you less favourably because of a disability or refuses to make reasonable adjustments to your job. Sickness by itself is not a disability but a disability includes a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

If your employer pays contractual sick pay, you must end your SPL and return to work in order to qualify for contractual sick pay. Yes, you are back at work and should be treated in the same way as other employees who are off sick. Yes, if you are intending to take some shared parental leave you can take annual leave in between periods of maternity leave or shared parental leave when you are back at work, for example, 26 weeks maternity leave, return to work, 2 weeks annual leave, 6 weeks shared parental leave, return to work, 2 weeks annual leave.

You must agree the annual leave with your employer in the usual way. If you are unable to take all your annual leave in the leave year because of absence on shared parental leave or other types of parental leave, the government advises that employers should allow you to carry forward up to 28 days statutory leave to the next leave year.

See www. If your employer offers more than the statutory minimum of 28 days annual leave, it is up to your employer how much of your contractual annual leave over and above the statutory 28 days you can carry forward so you should check your contract or talk to your employer. If you are not allowed to carry forward your annual leave you should seek legal advice.

UK, remember your settings and improve government services. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services. You can change your cookie settings at any time. You cannot get Statutory Maternity Leave if you have a child through surrogacy - you could get Statutory Adoption Leave and Pay instead.

You cannot get SMP if you go into police custody during your maternity pay period. You may be eligible for Maternity Allowance instead. Check what you need to do. To help us improve GOV.