Maternity leave & pay

When do I tell my Employer?

By 25 weeks into your pregnancy you must have notified your employer of your due date and intended maternity leave start date.  Maternity leave can start any time from 29 weeks.  The start date and length of intended leave are not concrete and can be changed  with suitable notice.

How much Maternity leave can I have from NHS employment?

A maximum of 52 weeks maternity leave (plus annual leave and public holidays) can be taken.   There is a statutory period of compulsory maternity leave of two weeks starting with the date the baby is born.

Am I entitiled to maternity pay?

If you have 12 months of continual service (with no breaks >3 months) you are entitled to Occupational Maternity Leave.  There is a statutory entitlement to 26 weeks of Occupational Maternity Leave beginning no earlier than the 29th week of pregnancy, followed by an entitlement to a further 26 weeks of Additional Maternity Leave. Contractual rights, with the exception of pay, continue during OML and AML.

In the NHS, your maternity pay will be calculated based on your national insurance contributions up to week 26 of your pregnancy (so maximising your pay up until then through locums and extra shifts will be worth it if you can muster the energy!)

Under the NHS scheme you are entitled to:
– 8 weeks full pay less Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) or Maternity Allowance (MA)
– then 18 weeks of half pay plus any SMP or MA, as long as the total amount does not exceed your normal full pay.
– then a further 13 weeks SMP or MA
– then 13 weeks maternity leave unpaid if you were to take the full 52 weeks
NB: Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is paid by your employer / Maternity Allowance (MA) is paid by social security. Whichever you receive will depend on your circumstances.

Here is the most recent official guidance on maternity pay and leave for NHS employees

Do I still need to pay professional fees while on maternity leave?

You do need to continue paying your GMC membership, along with your Professional body memberships (Royal Colleges, BMA), especially if you want to keep up to date by receiving journals and maintaining access to logbooks and online resources.  RCOA will ‘hold’ your membership if requested but you will not receive journals or have access to other benefits, individual colleges will have their own protocols.  However, rebates can be claimed on all medical defence union fees.  This can even be done retrospectively, just give them a call and a cheque will be on it’s way.