Parental leave
If you are having or adopting a baby you are entitled to parental leave and most likely pay. This can be taken by one parent or shared between both parents. This document will aim to summarise and signpost you to what you need to do and some of the relevant information.
Pregnancy
Every pregnancy is different and everyone will have different needs but most of us benefit from support at some point. If you feel comfortable enough it can be helpful to be upfront about your pregnancies with your colleagues. You will also need to notify your employer/trust when you are pregnant so that they can conduct a risk assessment and make any changes you might need. They should also send you a copy of their maternity policy for the trust. When you notify people is up to you, however be aware the Trust Medical Staffing/HR Department must be notified by the time you are 25 weeks pregnant.
Pregnant employees have the right to paid time off for antenatal care. The partner of the person who is pregnant is entitled to unpaid leave to attend two antenatal appointments. Unpaid leave, up to a maximum of six and a half hours per appointment can be accessed. If you are being assessed for adoption you have the right to reasonable paid time off for essential meetings.
Shift work can become challenging as pregnancy progresses and this should be discussed as part of your risk assessment regarding when might be suitable to stop on calls. Remember you will have to make up your weekly hours from increasing your normal working days. Your pay will remain protected if you do agree to drop your on call shifts.
Notifying you are going on parental leave
As a trainee you need to notify a number of different groups of your intent to go on parental leave. These are:
- Your trust – you should officially inform your line manager of your pregnancy and intent to go on parental leave. They should then provide you with the trust policy and relevant forms.
- Your TPD.
- Health Education England (HEE) – Log into the HEE PGMDE Support Portal, go to ‘Contact Us’ and then ‘Submit a Query’.
Your Trust will want your Mat B1 form (which you get from your GP or Midwife) but take a copy first as your partner may need a copy for parental/paternity leave.
Leave for up to one year can be split between parents from 20 weeks after the baby is born; two weeks statutory paternity leave is available to fathers within 8 weeks of the baby’s birth. NHS Employers provide further guidance on maternity/parental leave.
You are entitled to your annual leave and bank holidays (paid) for the time you are on parental leave; this can be taken at the end of your parental leave or included as part of it if you take a year or less.
Maternity/Paternity/Shared Parental leave
Full NHS benefits are available to most specialist trainees with a reducing pay scale over the duration of leave.
Some useful definitions:
EWC: Expected week of childbirth – from the Sunday before to the Saturday after your predicted due date
EDD: Expected date of delivery – the date your baby is due
OMP: Occupational Maternity Pay –maternity pay paid to those with at least 1 years continuous NHS service by 11th week before EWC
SMP: Statutory Maternity Pay – paid by your Trust. You must have worked in your Trust for 26 weeks by the 15th week before your EWC
MA: Maternity Allowance – alternative to SMP paid by Department of Work and Pensions if you are new to a Trust. This is the same monetary value as SMP but requires you to complete a MA 1 form and claim it.
You must plan to return to work in the NHS before 15 months after you leave on maternity leave otherwise you have to repay OMP.
If eligible you will receive the following:
8 weeks full pay
18 weeks half pay + SMP/MA
13 weeks SMP/MA
Weeks 39-52 are unpaid
Your trust can provide you with a breakdown of what you should receive and when, this is particularly helpful if you are moving trust and can help minimise stress over maternity pay when you are off. Remember you are entitled to additional pay for annual leave accrued and bank holidays.
Paternity leave is available to fathers (biological and adoptive), husbands, civil partners, and partners of either sex who live with the mother or adopter in a enduring relationship. They are entitled to 2 weeks paternity leave within 56 days of the birth. The weeks may be non-consecutive, but must be taken a full weeks. You will need to notify the Trust of intention to take paternity leave by the end of the 25th week of pregnancy.
Shared Parental Leave (SPL) enables both parents to share the 52 week leave entitlement of the employed mother or adopter. The first two weeks are compulsory maternity leave. You can then choose how to share the remaining leave and this document gives a useful summary of how this can be done: Shared parental leave guidance | NHS Employers
Further information about eligibility for SPL and how to apply can be found here: Shared parental leave (bma.org.uk)
Keeping in touch and returning to work
All trainees are entitled to 10 paid keeping in touch (KIT) days during maternity/paternity leave which can be used in multiple ways (including courses) and should be agreed with your educational supervisor.
HEE runs a Supported Return to Training programme. The information for planning your maternity leave and supported return to work after maternity leave can be found here: Supported Return to Training (westmidlandsdeanery.nhs.uk)
Parental leave – OOP perspective
There are several special considerations to take when preparing to take parental leave when out of programme e.g. for research, in addition to those highlighted above. The points below give some pointers that we hope will help with applications for parental leave when out of training.
As you are likely to need to liaise with several organisations to arrange your parental leave, it is best to get started as early as possible. Organisations/ individuals that you may need to contact include:
- Your training programme director for your region, as your “return to training date” is likely to change.
- Your local training deanery, which is likely to have a specific contact for “out of programme” issues.
- If registered for a higher degree, your university and head of postgraduate research will be able to arrange a suspension of your studies to cover parental leave.
- Your funding body. It may be possible to request additional funds to support your project while you take parental leave. This depends on the funding body and terms and conditions of your award.
- The human resources department of your employer, whether that be a university or NHS organisation. If you have a fixed term contract for your research project, you may need to request a contract extension.
- Your project supervisor.
If out of programme for research, your project may continue in some form while you are on parental leave. Arrange a meeting with your research supervisor prior to starting your parental leave to discuss how your project will run while you are away.
- Consider how much time you are willing (if any!) to spend on your project while away (for example, working remotely from home, writing papers etc), and discuss this with your supervisor before your parental leave begins.
- Discuss cover arrangements for your project while you are away, if required. Decide how much contact you would like with your supervisor/ research group while you are away (emails, face to face etc).
Plan ahead!
- While you are not required to make a firm decision on the duration of your parental leave immediately, it is a good idea to think about how long you would like to take, and inform your TPD and research supervisor.
- Parental leave while out of programme may increase the amount of time that you spend away from clinical work, therefore you may wish to think about how your return to clinical training may be supported (courses, local “supported return to training” schemes, “keeping in touch” days etc).
You don't have to give timings right away, but it's helpful to let people know as soon as possible.
Other useful information
A number of organisations will discount your membership fees whilst you are on leave including medical defence societies, the BMA and so it is worth contacting them early.
There is a very comprehensive ‘Pregnancy Pack’ put together by West Midlands Anaesthetics Trainees. It can be found via this link: Parenting pack (westmidlandsdeanery.nhs.uk) Just remember some of the information is specific to Anaesthetics, however much of it is transferable and it gives some good personal perspectives and considers some less common scenarios.
Authors: Lola Loewenthal (left) and Amanda Goodwin (right)
