Paternity Leave

[psychocandy]

Luckily, dear old Mrs candy works for the NHS and maternity pay is quite good. Since she only works part-time anyway (£900/month) it means even when she goes down to 1/2 pay they still at SMP onto that so it takes her back up full pay.

And, of course, leave still accrues and they like you to lump it on the end. i.e finish maternity at 11 months and take the last month as leave or whatever.

[psychocandy]

Amen to that.

One page.

[formant]

Seriously, £270 of free money - why not claim it?

I'm still on 'maternity leave', claiming maternity allowance.
And working/billing for 16hrs a week over two days.
Keep-in-touch days....great stuff.
(losing track of when to stop claiming, I think I've got about 3 weeks left)

[psychocandy]

Seriously, £270 of free money - why not claim it?

I'm still on 'maternity leave', claiming maternity allowance.
And working/billing for 16hrs a week over two days.
Keep-in-touch days....great stuff.
(losing track of when to stop claiming, I think I've got about 3 weeks left)

Isn't that a bit naughty though? i.e. claiming maternity and still working.

If we had traditional employers its cut and dried. Working or not. But of course we're our own employer.

So, theoretically, as with SPP, you could work and bill the client and still claim and actually be better off. Who'd know.

Like I said, bit naughty though. But as you say, KIT days are allowed - but isnt it a max of 10 during the maternity?

[Old Hack]

Seriously, £270 of free money - why not claim it?

I'm still on 'maternity leave', claiming maternity allowance.
And working/billing for 16hrs a week over two days.
Keep-in-touch days....great stuff.
(losing track of when to stop claiming, I think I've got about 3 weeks left)

Hmmm

[formant]

Isn't that a bit naughty though? i.e. claiming maternity and still working.

If we had traditional employers its cut and dried. Working or not. But of course we're our own employer.

So, theoretically, as with SPP, you could work and bill the client and still claim and actually be better off. Who'd know.

Like I said, bit naughty though. But as you say, KIT days are allowed - but isnt it a max of 10 during the maternity?

It is a maximum of 10, so I'm claiming 2 days per week for 5 weeks in total. What's naughty is that I may or may not be spreading my hours over more than 2 days per week, but only putting 2 days on my timesheet (with clientco management approval). Or the agreement that if additional work comes up I may just do it now but invoice for it later, after I've stopped claiming. This hasn't happened yet though and most likely won't.

To be honest, I still can't believe I got lucky enough to even get to keep this contract.

Essentially, I don't think what I'm doing is any different to what normal maternity leavers do - I just started my KIT days after 2.5 weeks rather than several months.

[psychocandy]

It is a maximum of 10, so I'm claiming 2 days per week for 5 weeks in total. What's naughty is that I may or may not be spreading my hours over more than 2 days per week, but only putting 2 days on my timesheet (with clientco management approval). Or the agreement that if additional work comes up I may just do it now but invoice for it later, after I've stopped claiming. This hasn't happened yet though and most likely won't.

To be honest, I still can't believe I got lucky enough to even get to keep this contract.

Essentially, I don't think what I'm doing is any different to what normal maternity leavers do - I just started my KIT days after 2.5 weeks rather than several months.

Ah. I see.

But the point is if your employer (you) gives you time off and you claim maternity, who exactly is going to check whether your employer is still billing someone? No-one I guess.

How are they going to know whether you're going to client or not?

But it is fraud. You're way does sound legit-ish...

Good news on keeping the contract as well.

[b0redom]

Honestly, I can't believe you're contemplating fraud at all, never mind over £230 especially on a public forum.

[Old Hack]

Honestly, I can't believe you're contemplating fraud at all, never mind over £230 especially on a public forum.

It was a nice little hole she was digging for herself...

[psychocandy]

Honestly, I can't believe you're contemplating fraud at all, never mind over £230 especially on a public forum.

LOL. No I aint. The wrath of my Mrs if I told her I was going in for the week rather than staying home is mightier than anything the legal system could throw at me.

Just pointing out that it'd be difficult to get caught if one wanted to do this.....

I think formant has it cracked though because Keep in Touch days during maternity are perfectly legal.