Working during Maternity Leave
For babies due before 1 April 2007
If you work for the employer who is paying your SMP you will lose SMP for each week in which you do some work, even if it's only for a day or part of a day.
If you do any work whilst you are receiving MA you will lose some of your MA. The amount of MA deducted should be reasonable with regard to the amount of work you do.
For babies due on or after 1 April 2007
You may work for up to 10 days without bringing your maternity leave to an end or losing your SMP or MA. This is to enable you to keep in touch during your leave if you wish to. You can work during ordinary or additional maternity leave but you cannot work during the two weeks of compulsory maternity leave immediately after the birth (four weeks for factory workers).
The keeping-in-touch days do not have to be consecutive. They can be used for any work-related activity including training, conferences or meetings. Working for part of a day will count as one day?s work. Your employers can also make reasonable contact with you during your leave, for example, to discuss your return to work. Any work during your maternity leave must be by agreement and neither you nor your employer can insist on it. Days of work will not extend your maternity leave period. You are protected from dismissal and detriment for refusing to work during maternity leave.
The new regulations on keeping-in-touch days do not say anything about how much an employee should be paid for working, so it will be a matter for agreement between you and your employer. The minimum that you must receive for the week in which the keeping-in-touch day falls is the SMP rate you are entitled to for that week. If your employer pays you any extra contractual pay your employer is entitled to offset it against any SMP paid for that week. When agreeing your rate of pay for Keeping-in-Touch days, your employer should make sure they comply with rules on the National Minimum Wage and equal pay.
For example, if an employee on maternity leave earns £50 for a keeping-in-touch day, she will be able to retain her SMP. The £50 earned will be offset against her SMP, meaning that she will receive £108.85 for the week. If she works for three keeping-in-touch days in the same week and earns £150 she will receive £150, her SMP being offset against contractual pay paid for the same week.
The employer will be able to reclaim the normal amount of SMP from HM Revenue & Customs. Once the keeping-in-touch days have been used up, she will lose a week's SMP for any week in which she does any work, even if it's only for one day. If a week contains, for example, the last of the keeping-in-touch days and another day of work, she will lose that week's SMP.
Working for another employer
If you work for another employer (employer B) before the birth you can still get SMP from the employer (employer A) who is paying your SMP. If you work after the birth for employer B and you were not working for employer B in the 15 th week before your baby was due, your SMP from employer A will stop on the Saturday before you start work. However, if you worked for employer B in the 15 th week before your baby was due, you may work for employer B without affecting your SMP from employer A.
You can do self employed or voluntary work without any loss of SMP. During unpaid maternity leave, you can work for another employer unless there is a clause in your contract limiting any other work.
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