Informing employer of maternity leave - rights if late

[Kennyjen]

Hello everyone and especially any teachers out there,

I told my head teacher back in June of my pregnancy and my due date, but it was early at that stage to give a predicted start date of maternity leave. She didn’t give me any instructions on how to tell her formally either before/during/after the summer holidays.

I emailed my MAT B1 form when I received it over the weekend, but as it’s the summer holidays and emails aren’t checked regularly, we’ve not discussed when I will take maternity leave although I have now planned a start date.

My worry now is that I have gone past the 15 weeks before baby is due in which I’m supposed to let my employer know of when I plan to take leave (this is what I understand from the government website). Are my maternity pay rights effected by informing my employer later? It is possible that I won’t hear from my headteacher until late next week once we’re back at school which will be around 13 weeks before baby is due.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[Sw1234]

No advice on the above and I don't work in education but a couple of my friends do. Not sure if it's something you've looked into or not and something you'd have to research as I'm not fully sure how it works but they did shared parental leave (their partners didn't take any of the leave but it meant my friends were officially "working" during holidays and getting full pay for the holidays. Worked well for my teacher friends who were on mat leave during the summer break. Apparently if you google it it'll give more info

[Kennyjen in reply to Sw1234]

Thanks for replying! I spent all of yesterday morning planning shared parental leave so I can get my very much hard earned full holiday pay 😉 It is crazy how much pay teachers miss out on!

[Eloquentia]

Hi! It sounds like you did inform your employer of your pregnancy and due date back in June. The MAT B1 form is an administrative formality. I would not worry too much about the second aspect regarding when you plan to take maternity leave as according to my best reading of the government website, this is not subject to the 15-week rule. Also, it really doesn't matter when you hear back from your employer, what matters is when you informed them of the pregnancy. Best of luck!

[Kennyjen in reply to Eloquentia]

Thanks for replying! I was 99% sure telling my headteacher in person would be fine, but that 1% worry and doubt always takes over.

[Millak]

Hi, yes teacher here! It’s 8 weeks to inform them when you want to start the mat leave! So I’m gona email them on the first day back! 😊

[Kennyjen in reply to Millak]

Thanks for replying and your reassurance. I feel a lot better now!

[Millak in reply to Kennyjen]

Hi again,

I checked again just in case. And we do need to notify heads of start date at 25 weeks! So I emailed them, you emailing your MatB1 should be fine! I’m sure everything will be fine! 🤩

[Kennyjen in reply to Millak]

Did you email your mat leave start date? When are planning on starting? Only if you don’t mind me asking.

[Millak in reply to Kennyjen]

That’s fine! Yes I emailed start and end dates and my mat b1. I’m starting week 37. How about you!? Good luck to both of us, teaching is not easy when you are 8/9 months preg. 🙈

[Kennyjen in reply to Millak]

Oh wow! Not long to go!

I’m due in November so currently plan is to go off on mat leave just after October half term. As much as I love teaching, I can’t say I am looking forward to going back after having my feet up so much!

I imagine you know about this already as it’s growing in popularity which is great, but in case you don’t know, you can use Shared Parental Leave to get full pay over some school holidays whilst your on mat leave.

teachersspl.co.uk

Hope the rest of your pregnancy goes well!

[Millak in reply to Kennyjen]

Yup it will be hard to go back I’m currently 25+3 starting Mat leave at 37 weeks! I’m just behind you due beg of Dec! I have heard about the shared SPL I guess I could do a block between Xmas and spring holls!? Good luck to you too!

[Kennyjen]

You’re only 4 days behind me!

I’m planning on making sure I get my full pay 8 weeks and 12 weeks 50% + SMP as per my borough’s maternity pay policy before I use SPL. I think, and I could be wrong here, if you use SPL before the enhanced maternity pay period is over, you will no longer be entitled to the remainder of the enhanced pay, just SMP (or Shared Parental Pay which is exactly the same as SMP). The way I’ve planned it, I will use SPL to ‘work’ and get paid over Easter, Summer half term and Summer holidays without having to go back to work in September.

I’m fairly certain one of the examples on the teacher SPL website is of a woman who is due at the beginning of December so this could help you plan.

Make sure you know your school/LA SPL policy and if you have any enhanced maternity pay to consider when planning blocks of SPL.

I’ll discuss more and confirm with headteacher when term starts, but feel free to send me a private message if you need anything. 🙂