During maternity leave

Action required by employee

If you have agreed with your department that you would like to work Keeping in Touch days during your maternity leave, you will need to make sure that you respond when your department offers you this work.

If you wish to change the date of your planned return to work, you will need to give 8 weeks' notice of the changed date to your department.

Action required by department

If you have agreed with the employee that she will be offered Keeping in Touch days during her maternity leave, make sure that you give as much notice as possible of the work that you would like the employee to do and clarify what she will be paid for the work she does.

Think about the return to work plan for the employee - it can be difficult returning particularly after a year off.

If the employee changes her return to work date, confirm the changed date with her.

Contact during maternity leave

During the maternity leave period, a department may make reasonable contact with an employee and, in the same way, an employee may make contact with her department. The frequency and nature of the contact will depend on a number of factors such as the nature of the work and the employee's post, any agreement that the employer and employee might have reached before maternity leave began as to contact and whether either party needs to communicate important information to the other, such as, for example, news of changes at the workplace that might affect the employee on her return.

The contact between department and employee can be made in any way that best suits either or both of them. For example, it could be by telephone, email, letter, involving the employee making a visit to the workplace, or in other ways.

Departments should note that they must, in any event, keep the employee informed of information relating to her job that she would normally be made aware of if she was working.

Departments and their employees will often find it helpful, before maternity leave starts, to discuss arrangements for staying in touch with each other. This might include agreements on the way in which contact will happen, how often, and who will initiate the contact. It might also cover the reasons for making contact and the types of things that might be discussed.

What constitutes "reasonable" contact will vary according to the circumstances. Some women will be happy to stay in close touch with the department and will not mind frequent contact. Others, however, will prefer to keep such contact to a minimum.

There is a section on the Maternity Leave Plan for the employee to note her preferences in this respect.

Payment for keeping in touch (KIT) days

As KIT days allow work to be carried out under the employee's contract of employment, the employee is entitled to be paid for that work. The rate of pay is a matter for agreement with the department, but may be agreed on a case-by-case basis.

It is suggested that if a woman attends for work, she is paid the equivalent of her normal hourly rate for the hours she works on the day in question. Therefore during the period that she is being paid at the rate of full pay, no further payment would be due.

It is suggested that if a woman works a KIT day in a week in which she is receiving SMP only, then her pay should be made up to the equivalent of full pay for the hours worked over and above the amount received under SMP rules. She will continue to be paid her SMP for the week in which the work is done.

There is a maximum limit of 10 KIT days allowed under the new regulations and once a woman has used up her 10 KIT days and she does any further work, she will lose a week's SMP for the week in the Maternity Pay Period in which she has done that work.

The hours to be worked and the pay for those hours must be agreed in advance between the department and the employee.

Any questions from departments about payment during KIT days should be directed to their Sector Personnel Officer.

Notification of change of return to work dates while on maternity leave

Unless otherwise notified, the date on which an employee returns to work will normally be the first working day 52 weeks after her maternity leave began. This is because all employees are entitled to 26 weeks' OML and 26 weeks' AML.

(i) Return to work before the end of the maternity leave period

If the employee wishes to return to work before the end of her full maternity leave period (this will normally be the end date that the department confirmed to her before she went on leave), she must give her department eight weeks' notice of her return to work. This notice requirement applies during the full period of leave. The notice period is the minimum that the department is entitled to expect, but the department may, at its discretion, accept less notice.

If the employee tries to return to work without having given the appropriate eight weeks' notice, the department may postpone her return until the end of the eight weeks' notice period. However, the department may not postpone her return to a date later than the end of her maternity leave period.

(ii) Return to work later than previously notified

An employee who has notified her department that she wishes to return to work before the end of her 52 weeks' entitlement to maternity leave, is entitled to change her mind. However, in these circumstances, she should give her department notice of this new, later date at least eight weeks before the earlier date.

(iii) Employees who do not wish to return to work after maternity leave

An employee who does not wish to return to work after her maternity leave must give her department the notice of termination required by her contract of employment. However, if a woman is in the position to do so, it would be helpful to her department if she can give as much notice as possible of her intention to leave her employment.

Please note: If a woman does not return to work for at least three months following her maternity leave period, departments may reclaim the whole of the non-statutory element of maternity pay. If a woman cannot return to work because her fixed-term contract has ended, it would not be expected that she would be required to repay any of her maternity pay.

Being paid

Women on maternity leave will be paid on the last working day but one of the month by credit transfer direct to her named bank or building society account, in exactly the same way that her salary would be paid if she were at work. Whilst on full-pay maternity leave Statutory Maternity Pay is included within the full-time pay made. It is not paid in addition to full-pay.

The woman's pay slip will be sent to her department and the employee can ask her department to forward it to her home address.

If an employee is sick during her maternity leave, she cannot claim sick pay. If the employee is sick when her maternity leave is due to end, she will be deemed to be an employee who has returned to work but who is on sick leave under the University sick pay scheme.

End of contract during maternity leave

If a woman's contract is due to end during her maternity leave period normal arrangements for ending contracts will apply. However, it is recommended that the administrator contacts his/her Sector Personnel Officer for guidance on the appropriate procedures.

If the woman has provided written confirmation that she wishes the department to seek suitable alternative employment for her within the University, this should be sought in the normal way. If it has not been possible, under the normal University rules, to redeploy her, then University pay and rights under the university maternity scheme end on the same day that her contract expires, although she would continue to receive any remaining statutory maternity pay, if she qualifies.

Annual leave

It is not possible for an employee to take annual leave at the same time as maternity leave but you may wish to ask women to take any accrued annual leave prior to their maternity leave. You may also ask that a woman takes at least 28 days' annual leave (the annual statutory holiday requirement) before she goes on maternity leave if she will not return to work before the end of the current year.

In the event that a maternity leave period crosses over two annual leave years, you may ask a woman returning to work to use up the balance of her annual leave from the leave year that has ended at the end of her maternity period. This will assist you in managing the larger amounts of annual leave that will be accrued during maternity leave. However, departments retain the right to make annual leave arrangements with their employees to fit in with operational requirements. Women must agree when they will take annual leave in advance with their department.

If a woman wishes to take annual leave at the end of her maternity leave period, she is deemed to have returned to work at the notified date and then she may take her annual leave as agreed with her department.

Other benefits

During the whole period of maternity leave the employee is entitled to receive all her contractual benefits with the exception of remuneration. This includes all non-cash benefits such as childcare vouchers.

Please note: If you are currently using university childcare tax saving schemes (i.e. the nursery fee salary sacrifice scheme or the childcare voucher scheme) it is important that you seek advice about the changes which occur within these schemes during the unpaid period of your maternity leave. Further information can be obtained by contacting the Childcare Services team at email: childcarefinance@admin.ox.ac.uk or tel: 01865 289835 or visit the Childcare Services web page.

Childcare

Parents using university nursery provision, childcare vouchers or salary sacrifice schemes must contact Childcare Services before the unpaid period, as the schemes operate differently during the unpaid period of maternity leave.