Working during maternity and family leave and while receiving pay

Ordinarily, you can work on a self-employed basis without it affecting your statutory pay. However, this doesn’t apply to those on Maternity Allowance (MA).

If you are on MA, you can only work up to 10 Keeping in Touch (KIT) days without it affecting your pay. Any work you do in addition to the 10 days, whether employed or self-employed, will lead to you being disqualified from claiming MA for at least the number of days you worked in excess of those 10 days.

Whilst you can’t work while you are receiving MA (apart from KIT days), you can still receive an income or wages, so if your business is generating an income for you while you are in receipt of MA, as long as you are not actually working, this should not disqualify you from receiving MA.

If you are on MA and you want to know whether your MA will be affected by self-employment, you should speak to Jobcentre Plus or seek advice.

Yes – if you qualify for SMP for both jobs, you can start and finish your maternity leave and SMP in both jobs at different times without it affecting your leave or pay from either employer. See our article on maternity rights if you have more than one job.

You may be eligible for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) from your old employer if (a) you were employed by your old employer for a continuous period of at least 26 weeks into the qualifying week (which is the 15th week before the week in which the baby is due); and (b) have earned at least £123 per week (gross) in the 8 weeks leading up to the qualifying week.

You can start work for a new employer and still receive SMP from your old employer before the birth. However, once your baby has been born you cannot continue to get SMP from your old employer if you do work for a new employer, unless you were employed by the new employer in the 15^th week before your baby was due.

After your baby is born, if you return to work with a new employer, you should inform your old employer and your SMP payments will stop.

A KIT day is a normal calendar day – so, whether you work a full day or just an hour, you will have used up a KIT day.

A day’s work will be the normal hours or shift patterns at your workplace – so if you normally work 12 hour shifts, a KIT day could be a 12 hour shift.

You will need to agree with your employer when you take a KIT day, what type of work you will do and how long your KIT day will be.

During KIT/SPLIT days, you can carry out work for your employer and may be paid for this. The rate of pay is a matter for agreement between you and your employer, and would normally be the contractual rate of pay, depending on the work done and what is agreed.

You should agree to payment in advance with your employer. The regulations on KIT days do not say anything about how much an employee should be paid for working a KIT day and therefore the rate of pay is a matter of agreement between you and your employer.

There is no obligation for your employer to pay you anything for KIT days (other than SMP or the national minimum wage). To incentive employees to undertake KIT days, many employers will pay employees their normal rate of basic pay on KIT days or give them the equivalent paid time off in lieu (to be used when the employee returns from maternity leave).

If you are still receiving SMP when you work a KIT Day, you employer must pay your SMP that week as normal, but it will be a matter of agreement between you and your employer as to how much you will get paid on top of SMP. Please be aware that most employers will wish to offset from any KIT day pay what SMP you will receive for that day or that whole week, rather than paying you SMP plus full basic pay for the KIT day.

If you are unhappy with the rate of pay your employer is offering you for any KIT day you are under no obligation to accept it and can decline to work any further KIT days. Your employer cannot lawfully penalise you for deciding not to accept their payment proposal or declining to work KIT days.

If you are on SMP, SAP or ShPP, you will lose a week of pay for each week that you do any work for your employer above your 10 KIT or 20 SPLIT days. Statutory maternity leave will also come to an end and you will be regarded as having returned to work. You should seek advice if you want to do this.

If you are on MA, your MA will stop being paid if you work more than 10 days (whether for an employer or as self-employed). However, your MA period continues to run. If you are an employee, it may also affect your right to continue on maternity leave. If you are not an employee, you may be able to restart your MA claim, depending on how long you have been disqualified for. You will be disqualified from receiving MA for at least the number of days that you worked in excess of 10 days.

Yes, you can. If you are on maternity leave and later take a period of shared parental leave, you can use up to 10 KIT days whilst on maternity leave and separately take up to 20 SPLIT days during your shared parental leave. The entitlements are separate.