RAVENSBOURNE COLLEGE OF DESIGN AND COMMUNICATION

MATERNITY LEAVE AND PAY POLICY AND PROCEDURE

Introduction

The College complies with the current provisions of the statutory scheme of maternity
rights, as set out below.

It is the policy of the College to inform female employees of their entitlement

to maternity rights, once an individual has notified Human Resources of their
pregnancy. This policy outlines the benefits offered to women during their
period of maternity.

Procedures

The employee should notify the College as soon as possible after she is
aware of her pregnancy, so that College’s requirements may be considered
and the employee made fully aware of the procedures they should follow.
The College is keen to provide a safe place of work for all its employees and
therefore early notification of pregnancy is desirable.

Employees will not be treated less favourably because of pregnancy,

childbirth or maternity absence.

Once the person to whom you are responsible on a day-to-day basis has
been notified or has become aware of an employee’s pregnancy, the
employee should be referred to the Head of Human Resources who will
discuss with the individual her maternity entitlement.

1. Ordinary Maternity Leave

0.1 Irrespective of their length of service or the number of hours worked each
week pregnant employees have the statutory right to 26 weeks’ continuous
maternity leave. This is known as Ordinary Maternity Leave and it includes
two weeks compulsory leave after the birth.

0.2 Ordinary Maternity Leave may not begin before the start of the 11th week
before the expected week of childbirth. Apart from this, it is up to the
employee to decide when to start her leave. For these purposes weeks begin
on a Sunday and the calculation is made by counting back from the start of
the week in which the child is due. If the child is born before the date the
employee has chosen to begin maternity leave, it will begin automatically on
that date.

0.3 If an employee becomes ill because of a pregnancy related reason after the
start of the fourth week before the child is due, the College reserves the right
to require the employee to start maternity leave on the first day of the
absence.

0.4 If an employee does decide to work after the start of the fourth week before
their child is due, in the interests of her own safety, she should obtain her

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doctor’s confirmation of continuing fitness for work. A doctor’s certificate

confirming this should be submitted to Human Resources.

1. Additional Maternity Leave

1.1 If an employee has completed 26 week’s continuous service by the end of

the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth, she has the right to take
a further 26 weeks maternity leave starting immediately after the end of the
Ordinary Maternity Leave, to start from the beginning of the week in which
the birth occurs. This is known as Additional Maternity Leave.

2. Notification Requirements

2.1 By the end of the 15th week before their expected week of childbirth an
employee must give the College notice in writing and should include the
following information:

2.1.1 That she is in fact pregnant; and

2.1.2 The week in which the child is due (note that for these purposes the week
begins on a Sunday)

2.1.3 When she wants her maternity leave to start;

2.1.4 Whether she intends to take Ordinary or Additional Maternity Leave (this will
depend on service entitlement);

2.2 If requested, she must also provide evidence of the expected week of
childbirth (currently in the form of a completed certificate MATB1 signed by a
GP or a midwife).

2.3 The employee may vary the start of her Ordinary Maternity Leave provided
that she notifies the Head of Human Resources, in writing, 28 days prior to
the start of the new date.

2.4 Failure to comply with these notification requirements may mean that the
employee loses the right to take maternity leave.

2.5 If the baby is born before the employee has notified commencement of
maternity leave the employee must notify the College as soon as reasonably
practicable of the date she gave birth and the maternity leave is deemed to
commence on the date of the birth.

2.6 Within 28 days of receipt of the employee’s notification letter to the Head of
Human Resources, she will write to the employee to confirm their leave
entitlement and stating the return to work date. This date will be either the
end date of the Ordinary Maternity Leave (that is 26 weeks from
commencement) or, if entitled to Additional Maternity Leave, the end-date of
this additional period (that is one year after commencement).

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2.7 If the employee has to take time off because of her pregnancy on or after the
start of the 4th week before the expected week of childbirth, this will trigger
compulsory maternity leave.

Return to Work

2.8 An employee is not required to specify a date for her return, after a period of
Ordinary or Additional Maternity Leave; she may simply present herself for
work. However, in order to make appropriate working arrangements for her
return, it is clearly advisable for the employee to discuss her proposed date
of return with the Head of Human Resources in advance.

2.9 An employee who wishes to return to work before the end of the Ordinary or
Additional Maternity Leave period must give 28 days notice of that ideally in
writing, for the purposes of maintaining accurate Human Resources records.
The College may postpone an employee’s early return to work if she gives
less than 28 days notice of her intention to return until it has sufficient notice.

3. Statutory Maternity Pay

3.1 The College will pay Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) in accordance with its
legal obligations from time to time in force. Currently, in order to qualify for
SMP, an employee must satisfy the following criteria:

• Have completed at least 26 weeks’ continuous employment with the College

by the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth;

• Must still be pregnant (or have had the baby) at the beginning of the 11th
week before the expected week of childbirth;

• Earnings must be more than the lower earnings limit for national insurance
payment purposes (for an 8-week period);

• Must have started maternity leave; and

• Have complied with the notice requirements set out above.

3.2 SMP is payable for a maximum of 26 weeks (irrespective of whether Ordinary

or Additional Maternity Leave) and will be paid at the appropriate rate(s) from
time to time. The first 6 weeks are paid at 90% of average earnings and the
following 20 weeks at the lower rate of Statutory Maternity Pay, as prescribed
by statute. SMP is subject to deduction for tax, national insurance and other
deductions, which the College may lawfully make. Payment of SMP will
normally be made at the same intervals as wages.

3.3 An employee will receive an itemised statement from payroll of her individual
entitlement for the Ordinary Maternity Leave period, prior to the start of the
leave.

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3.4 If an employee does not qualify for SMP she may be able to claim State
Maternity Allowance and claims should be made direct to the local office of
the Department of Social Security/Benefits Agency.

3.5 To claim SMP an employee must give 28 days’ notice in writing of her
absence on maternity leave and intention to claim SMP. If the employee has
already sent details regarding her pregnancy and intention to take leave by
the 15th week under paragraph 12 above, that notice is sufficient. If an
employee intends to take maternity leave she need only give such written
notice.

4. Returning to Work

4.1 Under no circumstances will any employee be permitted to return to work

within 2 weeks of the birth of the child. In such circumstances Ordinary
Maternity Leave will be extended if, by the end of the Ordinary Maternity
Leave period the child has not been born in which case it will continue until 2
weeks after the birth of the child.

4.2 An employee returning to work after a period of ordinary Maternity leave has
the right to return to the job in which she was employed before her absence
and to the benefit from any improvements to that job, i.e. national pay award.

4.3 An employee returning to work after Additional Maternity Leave has the right
to the job in which she was employed before her absence. If, however, it is
not reasonably practicable for the College to allow the employee to return to
the same job, she will be entitled to return to an alternative job (if that exists)
which is both suitable and appropriate for her and on the same terms and
conditions of employment as her previous job.

4.4 The College is obliged to consider but not to accede to a request for flexible
working from the employee.

4.5 An employee wishing to exercise her rights to Parental Leave to follow on

continuously from a period of Maternity Leave should notify the Head of
Human Resources in writing who will subsequently write to the employee
confirming her date of return to work. Please refer to the College’s Policy on
Parental Leave.

4.6 If the employee decides not to return to work then the College asks that the
employee notify Human Resources of their decision immediately. If an
employee has received maternity pay in excess of her statutory entitlement
she will have to repay this amount to the College. (See below).

4.7 If an employee cannot return to work because she is ill she should notify
Human Resources who will advise her how much, if any, sick leave she is
entitled to. The College’s Sickness Absence Rules and Procedures must be
adhered to in the usual way. Please note that in some circumstances if an

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employee cannot return to work at the appointed time she may lose her right
to return to work altogether.

4.8 If an employee fails to return to work at the appropriate time this will be
treated as an unauthorised absence for which no payments will be made and
for which disciplinary action may be taken in accordance with the College’s
Disciplinary Procedure.

4.9 An employee will not be able to postpone her return to work on medical
grounds. If the employee is ill at the end of Maternity Leave the College’s
rules on sickness absence will apply and all notification requirements in the
College’s Sickness Absence Rules and Procedures must be adhered to.

5. Contractual entitlements during Leave

5.1 During Ordinary Maternity Leave an employee will not be entitled to her
normal salary but will be entitled to her other contractual benefits. Where the
employee is entitled to Additional Maternity Leave at the end of the Ordinary
Maternity Leave period, if the employee remains in employment she will still
not be entitled to remuneration, but will be entitled to the following contractual
benefits and entitlement:

• Terms and conditions relating to notice of termination by the College

• Compensation in the event of redundancy;

And subject to

• The College disciplinary and grievance procedures

5.2 The employee’s entitlement to all other contractual benefits will be restored
when the employee exercises her right to return to work. The Employee is
required to comply with all of her other obligations towards the College during
her Ordinary Maternity Leave. Employees on Additional Maternity Leave are
subject to the existing obligations of trust, confidence and good faith.

6. Holiday Entitlement

6.1 Employees are encouraged to take outstanding annual leave before the
beginning of their maternity leave. Payment for any outstanding accrued
leave at the start of the Ordinary Maternity Leave period will be included in
the last salary payment. During the Ordinary Maternity Leave period, annual
leave entitlement will continue to accrue in the usual way. Following an
employee’s return to work, annual leave should be taken in accordance with
the terms of the contract of employment. Alternatively, the employee may
request payment in lieu of the accrued holiday.

6.2 An Employee entitled to additional maternity leave on return from maternity

absence will be granted holiday in the current holiday year as if she were a
new employee. i.e. her annual leave will accrue from the date of her return.

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7. Salary Reviews

7.1 An employee on maternity leave at the time of the annual review will have
her salary reviewed in the normal way.

8. Continuous Employment

8.1 Periods of maternity leave will be treated as continuous employment.

9. Pension

9.1 An employee’s absence on maternity leave will be treated as is pensionable

service and, if applicable, the College will continue to make pension
contributions to the Local Government / Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
Employee’s pension contributions will be deducted from, and will be based
on, the amount of SMP and contractual maternity pay that the Employee
receives.

10. College Property

10.1 When an employee takes Ordinary or Additional Maternity Leave, the College
may request that all College property, for example, videos, tools, locker keys,
overalls, College records be returned. These items will be reissued on the
employee’s return to work.

11. Health and Safety

11.1 If an employee is employed in a position that the College has identified as

posing a risk to her health, she will be notified immediately and arrangements
will be made to eliminate that risk or remove her from those risks.

11.2 For this reason, an employee is required to notify the Head of Human
Resources as soon as she is aware that she may be pregnant. Arrangements
will then be made, if appropriate, to alter her working conditions, or if that is
inappropriate and such a job is available, she will be offered a suitable
alternative job.

11.3 If neither of these options is appropriate, the College has, and reserves the
right, to suspend the employee on full pay until she is no longer at risk. These
alternative arrangements may continue after the birth of her child if she
returns to work and is still considered to be at risk. If this is the case, then
assuming that the employee qualifies for the statutory rights mentioned
above and complies with the notification obligations, the period of maternity
leave will normally start at the beginning of the sixth week before the
expected week of childbirth. Assuming that the employee is eligible for SMP
then, at that stage, payment of SMP (as opposed to normal salary) will start.

11.4 If an employee has any concerns about her own health and safety, at any
time, she must consult the Head of Human Resources and / or the Health
and Safety Consultant.

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12. Ante-Natal Care

12.1 An employee is entitled to attend antenatal care appointments for which no

deduction in pay is made and an appointment card should also be provided
giving details of appointment times. In order to minimise disruption to the
working day. Appointments should be made either side of the working day.

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