1. Purpose and scope

1.1 This procedure sets out guidance for employees who may be entitled to maternity leave and pay. You should read it alongside the Maternity leave policy.

1.2 RoS recognises that, from time to time, employees may have questions or concerns relating to their maternity rights. It is RoS’ policy to encourage open discussion with employees to ensure that questions and problems can be resolved as quickly as possible.

1.3 The following definitions are used in this procedure:

• "Expected week of childbirth" means the week, starting on a Sunday, during which the employee's doctor or midwife expects them to give birth.
• "Qualifying week" means the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth.

2. Maternity pay

2.1 Occupational Maternity Pay

2.1.1 You may be entitled to maternity pay under RoS’s occupational maternity arrangements if you:

• have 1 years’ continuous service with RoS and/or the Civil Service by your expected date of childbirth
• have earned, on average, at least as much as the lower earnings limit for National Insurance in the 8 week period ending with the end of your “Qualifying Week”.

2.1.2 This is more generous than the statutory provisions and, provided you satisfy the qualification criteria, you will receive 52 week’s full pay during your maternity leave period.

2.1.3 Should you decide not to return to work after your maternity leave, you will be required to repay any Occupational Maternity Pay received (less any Statutory Maternity Pay). You must complete the equivalent of one month’s paid service following your return from maternity leave or following your return from your consecutive unpaid special leave or consecutive career break. You will be asked to confirm this by signing a "Statement of Intention and Undertaking to Repay Salary".

2.1.4 Where you meet the criteria for Occupational Maternity Pay but confirm that you do not intend to return to work at the end of your maternity leave period, you will be entitled to 6 weeks full pay plus Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), as outlined in section 2.3.

2.1.5 In the event that you notify RoS of your intention to take maternity leave but are still unsure at that point whether you will return to work at the end of your maternity leave period, you can choose to receive 6 weeks full pay and defer payment of any remaining entitlement until a later date.

2.1.6 If you are eligible, Occupational Maternity Pay will be paid in the normal way, monthly through the payroll. It is subject to tax and National Insurance deductions.

2.2 Statutory maternity pay

2.2.1 If you do not have 1 years’ continuous service with RoS and/or the Civil Service, you may be eligible for Statutory Maternity Pay. This is a weekly benefit paid to people who are on maternity leave.

2.2.2 You will qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay if you:

• have been employed by RoS and/or the Civil Service for a continuous period of at least 26 weeks at the end of your “Qualifying Week” and are still employed during that week
• are still pregnant at the 11th week before your “Qualifying Week”, or have had the baby by that time
• have provided the correct notification of your pregnancy as outlined in this policy
• have given the proper notification of your intention to take maternity leave in line with this policy
• have normal earnings for the 8 weeks prior to the end of your “Qualifying Week” and not less than the Lower Earnings Limit for National Insurance contributions in force at the time.

2.2.3  As your normal weekly earnings are based on the gross average National Insurance qualifying weekly earnings (including overtime i.e. all income subject to tax and National Insurance), received during the 8 weeks prior to the qualifying week, it is important to be aware that if for any reason your earnings during that period are reduced, for example: if you have taken unpaid leave, or have had a period of sickness where sick pay has been exhausted, this will affect your average earnings.

2.2.4  Statutory Maternity Pay is payable for 39 weeks. The first 6 weeks will be paid at 90% of average weekly earnings. The remainder will be paid at the lower statutory level or 90% of your average weekly earnings if this is less. Please refer to www.gov.uk for current Statutory Maternity Pay rates.

2.2.5  The earliest date Statutory Maternity Pay is payable is the 11th week before the expected week of childbirth.  Statutory maternity pay can start on any day of the week in accordance with the date you start your maternity leave.

2.2.6  You are entitled to statutory maternity pay regardless of whether you intend to work after your maternity leave.

2.2.7  If you become eligible for a pay rise between the start of the original calculation period and the end of your maternity leave (whether ordinary maternity or additional maternity leave), the higher or standard rate of Statutory Maternity Pay will be recalculated to take account of your pay rise, regardless of whether statutory maternity pay has already been paid to you.

2.2.8  If you are eligible, Statutory Maternity Pay will be paid in the normal way, monthly through the payroll. It is subject to tax and NI deductions.

2.3 Maternity allowance

2.3.1  If you do not meet the qualifying conditions for Occupational Maternity Pay or Statutory Maternity Pay, you may qualify for Maternity Allowance (MA) or other social security benefits.

2.3.2  Further information on these benefits can be obtained from your local JobCentre plus office. If this is the case, the HR department will provide you with an SMP1 form, which will help you apply for the allowance.

2.2.3  Maternity Allowance is payable irrespective of whether you return to work.

3. Timing of maternity leave

3.1 You (regardless of length of service) have the right to take up to 26 weeks' ordinary maternity leave and up to a further 26 weeks' additional maternity leave and to resume work afterwards. You are therefore entitled to a total period of 52 weeks' maternity leave. Additional maternity leave follows on immediately from the end of the period of ordinary maternity leave.

3.2 ;Ordinary maternity leave can start at any time after the beginning of the 11th week before your “Expected week of childbirth”. If your child is born prematurely before that date, it will start earlier.

3.3 Maternity leave will start on whichever date is the earlier of:

• your chosen start date,
• the day after you give birth, or
• the day after any day on which you are absent for a pregnancy related reason in the four weeks before the expected week of childbirth.

3.4 If you give birth before your maternity leave was due to start, you must notify your line manager in writing of the date of the birth as soon as reasonably practicable.

3.5 By law, you must take a minimum of two weeks of maternity leave immediately after the birth of your child.

3.6 You are permitted to bring forward your maternity leave start date, provided that you advise your line manager in writing at least 28 days before the new start date or, if that is not possible, as soon as reasonably practicable.

3.7 You may also postpone your maternity leave start date, provided that you advise your line manager in writing at least 28 days before the original proposed start date or, if that is not possible, as soon as reasonably practicable.

3.8 To make the process run as smoothly as possible, you should discuss the timing of your maternity leave with your line manager as soon as possible.

4. Notice requirements

4.1 On becoming pregnant, you should notify your line manager as soon as possible. This is important as there are health and safety considerations for RoS.

4.2 By the end of the qualifying week, or as soon as reasonably practicable afterwards, you are required to inform RoS in writing of:

• the fact that you are pregnant,
• your expected week of childbirth, and
• the date on which you intend to start your maternity leave.

4.3 You must also provide a MAT B1 form, which is a certificate from a doctor or midwife confirming the expected week of childbirth.

4.4 RoS will formally respond in writing to your notification of your leave plans within 28 days, confirming the date on which you are expected to return to work if you take your full 52-week entitlement to maternity leave.

4.5 You are required to give at least 28 days' notice of the date that you want your Statutory Maternity Pay to begin. If it is not possible for you to give 28 days' notice, for example if the baby arrives early, you should tell RoS as soon as reasonably practicable.

5. Time off for antenatal care

5.1 Once you have advised RoS that you are pregnant, you will be entitled to paid time off work to attend antenatal appointments as advised by your doctor, registered midwife or registered health visitor.

5.2 Antenatal care may include relaxation and parent craft classes that your doctor, midwife or health visitor has advised you to attend, in addition to medical examinations.

5.3 You should endeavour to give your line manager as much notice as possible of antenatal appointments and, wherever possible, try to arrange them as near to the start or end of the working day as possible.

5.4 Apart from the first appointment, you should be prepared to show your line manager an appointment card if requested.

5.5 If your co-parent, is a RoS employee, they are eligible to take paid time off to accompany you at up to three antenatal appointments.

6. Health and safety

6.1 RoS has a duty to take care for the health and safety of all our employees. We will carry out a risk assessment to assess your workplace when you notify us that you are pregnant, have given birth in the last 6 months or are breastfeeding, and take such steps as are necessary to eliminate identified risks.

6.2 If a risk has been identified and it means that you cannot carry out your normal duties, you have the right to be offered suitable alternative work or, if such work is not available, to be suspended on maternity grounds. You would receive your normal pay until such time as there are no longer any risks to your health or until suitable alternative work is found.

6.3 If you are suspended during your pregnancy on full pay for this reason, the suspension period will end when your ordinary maternity leave period begins. All your contractual rights will continue to apply during this period of suspension unless you unreasonably refuse an offer of suitable alternative employment.

6.4 However, if the assessment does not identify a risk and you remain concerned, you may wish to discuss the matter with your doctor or we may refer to RoS’ Occupational Health Adviser for advice.

7. Sickness absence

7.1 If you are absent from work during pregnancy owing to sickness, you will receive normal sick pay in the same manner as you would during any other sickness absence provided that you have not yet begun ordinary maternity leave.

7.2 If, however, you are absent from work due to a pregnancy related illness after the beginning of the fourth week before your expected week of childbirth, your maternity leave will start automatically.

7.3 If you are absent from work wholly or partly because of pregnancy during the four weeks before the expected week of childbirth, you must notify RoS in writing of this as soon as reasonably practicable.

8. Rights during maternity leave

8.1 During your maternity leave, all terms and conditions of your contract except normal pay will continue. Your salary will be replaced by Occupational Maternity Pay or Statutory Maternity Pay if you are eligible for it. Otherwise, you will be paid Maternity Allowance.

8.2 This means that, while sums payable by way of salary will cease, all other benefits will remain in place. For example, holiday entitlement will continue to accrue and pension contributions will continue to be paid.

8.3 You are encouraged to take any outstanding holiday due before the commencement of maternity leave. You are reminded that holiday should be taken in the year that it is earned.

9. Contact during maternity leave

9.1 Your manager reserves the right to maintain reasonable contact with you during maternity leave. This may be to discuss your plans for return to work, to discuss any special arrangements to be made, or training to be given to ease your return to work, or to update you on developments at work during your absence.

10. Keeping-in-touch days

10.1 You can agree to work for RoS (or to attend training) for up to 10 days during your maternity leave without that work bringing your maternity leave to an end and without loss of a week's statutory maternity pay. These are known as "keeping-in-touch" days. Any work carried out on a day shall constitute a day's work for these purposes.

10.2 RoS has no right to require you to carry out any work and you have no right to undertake any work during your maternity leave. Any work undertaken on keeping-in-touch days, is entirely a matter for agreement between you and your line manager.

10.3 You will receive keeping in touch pay when on unpaid maternity leave or when in receipt of Statutory Maternity Pay only.

11. Returning to work after maternity leave

11.1 You must take leave for the first two weeks from the day of childbirth. After this, you may return to work at any time during ordinary maternity leave or additional maternity leave, provided that you give the appropriate notification. Alternatively, you may take your full period of maternity leave entitlement and return to work at the end of this period

11.2 If you wish to return before the full period of maternity leave has elapsed, you must give at least eight weeks' notice in writing to your line manager of the date on which you intend to return.

11.3 You have the right to resume working in the same job if returning to work from ordinary maternity leave. If you return to work after a period of additional maternity leave, you are entitled to return either to the same job or, if this is not reasonably practicable, to another suitable job that is on terms and conditions not less favourable.

11.4 Failure to return to work by the end of maternity leave will be treated as an unauthorised absence unless you are sick and produce a current medical certificate before the end of the maternity leave period.

11.5 If you decide during maternity leave that you do not wish to return to work, you should give written notice of resignation to your line manager as soon as possible and in accordance with the terms of your contract of employment.

12. Shared parental leave

12.1 Shared parental leave enables you, to commit to ending your maternity leave and pay at a future date, and to share the untaken balance with your co-parent.

12.2 To be able to take shared parental leave, you and your co-parent must meet various eligibility requirements and comply with the relevant curtailment, notice and evidence requirements. This includes you curtailing your maternity leave.

12.3You should refer to RoS’ policy on shared parental leave, where you will find full details of the eligibility requirements, as well as instructions as to how your maternity leave can be curtailed. RoS’ policy on shared parental leave sets out the notice periods with which you must comply and what evidence you must provide to your line manager. The policy also contains more details on employees' entitlement to RoS’ enhanced shared parental pay scheme.

12.4 You and your co-parent should ensure that you are each liaising with your own employer when making requests for shared parental leave.

13. Breastfeeding at work

13.1 We will support employees who are breastfeeding to continue to breastfeed following their return to work. We provide facilities for:

• feeding
• expressing milk
• storing milk
• resting.

13.2 You can use the first aid/ Wellbeing rooms in our buildings. You can ask your manager where you should go to breastfeed to ensure your privacy.

13.3 You can also ask your manager about:

• extra breaks to breast feed and express breast milk
• flexibility over working hours.

14. Miscarriage and stillbirth

14.1 If you experience a miscarriage before 24 weeks of pregnancy you should speak with your manager or with HR in confidence. It may be appropriate to consider bereavement or compassionate leave through the Special Leave Policy, or sick leave.

14.2 If you need time off work because of a miscarriage this will be treated as a pregnancy related sickness. You should discuss this with your manager who will confirm what support is available to you.

14.3 If your baby is stillborn after 24 weeks of pregnancy, or doesn’t survive after birth, you are entitled to take up to 52 weeks’ maternity leave and to receive the pay you were eligible for.

14.4 You may wish to use the RoS’s counselling service (Employee Assistance Programme) which is free and confidential and available to all members of staff.

14.5 Parental bereavement leave is also available. For more information, please read the Parental Bereavement Leave policy.

15. Approval and review

15.1 This procedure will be reviewed and approved by the Strategic People Authority annually, unless earlier review is appropriate.