Working Families on additional maternity leave not to be confused with ordinary maternity leave

Additional Maternity Leave is 26 weeks, to be taken at the end of Ordinary Maternity Leave.

What is Additional Maternity Leave?
Additional Maternity Leave is a further 26 weeks leave to be taken at the end of Ordinary Maternity Leave. You can stay off work for 52 weeks from the start of your maternity leave.

Who gets it?
All women can take both ordinary and additional maternity leave regardless of their service.

You must give your employer the correct notice to take maternity leave. You do not have to give your employer any special notice that you wish to take Additional Maternity Leave. If you are entitled to Additional Maternity Leave, your employer should assume that you are going to take it. If you wish to return to work earlier or at the end of your ordinary maternity leave, you should give your employer 8 weeks? notice before returning to work.

When can I start it and how long does it last?
The first 26 weeks of your maternity leave is officially known as Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML). Your Additional Maternity Leave (AML) period starts at the end of this 26 weeks and continues until you return to work. In practice, it won t matter too much to you whether a particular week of your leave is called OML or AML. However it can be useful to bear in mind: for example, when reading about what rights you get while you are away, on the next page.

What will I get while I'm away?
During the first 26 weeks of leave (your OML period) your contractual rights (i.e. any special rights that apply to your particular workplace, such as a company car or pension) continue as if you were still at work, apart from your normal pay. During the first 39 weeks of your leave you will probably be entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay After that, your leave will be unpaid. Some employers also offer extra maternity pay: you need to check your contract, or ask the human resources department or your union representative.

During the AML period you will continue to be an employee, but the only contractual rights that continue automatically will be:

• the notice period in your contract of employment will still apply (if either you or your employer wish to terminate your employment)
• you will be entitled to redundancy pay
• disciplinary and grievance procedures will apply
• if your contract has a section which states you must not work for any other company, this will still apply.

It might be possible to negotiate with your employer for other contractual rights to continue.

These rules do affect your statutory rights (i.e. rights that apply by law to all employees in this country). For example, everyone has a legal right to 20 days paid annual leave whether they are on maternity leave or not. Also your employer must not discriminate against you by failing to consider you for opportunities such as promotion.

If you are made redundant whilst on maternity leave, your employer must offer you any suitable alternative work that is available. If there is none, they must pay you any notice and redundancy pay that you are entitled to.

Do I have to give notice of my return?
You don't need to give any notice of return if you are going back to work at the end of your leave (52 weeks from the start of your maternity leave). You simply go to work on the day that you are due back.

If you want to return to work early, you must give your employer 8 weeks notice of the date you will be returning. If you do not give this notice and just turn up at work before the end of your AML, your employer can send you away for 8 weeks or until the end of your AML, whichever is earlier. If you want to return at the end of your maternity pay period, you would need to give notice 8 weeks before your maternity pay ran out.

If you wish to change your return date, you need to give 8 weeks notice of the old or new return date, whichever is sooner.

What happens when I go back? When you return to work after additional maternity leave your employer must give you back

• the same job, or
• only if that is not reasonably practicable, a suitable job on very similar terms and conditions (in practice this rarely applies).

For more information you can call Working Families helpline 0800 013 0313