Maternity leave

You can work and be paid for up to 10 days during your maternity leave, except the first 2 weeks after the birth of your baby.  

You must not work at any other time during your maternity leave, except for on keeping in touch (KIT) days. If more than 10 KIT days are worked during the Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) period, your maternity leave will end and one week’s Statutory Maternity Pay will be deducted for every week in which a day was worked.
 
KIT days are usually used to attend important training, key meetings or team activities. Working KIT days does not mean you can delay your maternity return date by the number of KIT days you've worked.

Arranging KIT days 

Contact your manager to discuss when you'll take your KIT days.

Recording and claiming KIT days

If you wish to be paid for your KIT days as and when you work them, you must submit a request on the Assyst portal after working a KIT day so your manager can process payment as soon as reasonably practical.

Alternatively, you can submit the Assyst portal request when you return from maternity or adoption leave and your KIT days will all be paid to you in the next available pay period.

You and your manager can use the Keeping in touch form (DOCX, 61KB) to record the number of KIT days worked to ensure that you do not exceed your entitlement.

If you're taking shared parental leave

You can work and be paid for up to 20 shared parental leave in touch days (SPLIT) during your shared parental leave. This is in addition to the 10 KIT days available during maternity and adoption leave.