Can I take holiday leave at the start of maternity leave?: ask the expert

Legally, women on maternity leave have to be allowed to use up their accrued holiday entitlement. This can be either before or after the maternity leave period. However, the right to carry holiday over from one annual leave year to the next depends on the terms of the employment contract with the employer and not the legislation governing maternity leave. Following the Working Time Directive, employees must be allowed to take their accrued holiday and it is illegal to pay holiday as a lump sum.

So, in your case, your employer cannot pay you in lieu of the holidays, they must let you take them. There is no law on whether this has to be before or after your maternity leave. The fact that they sent you a letter stating that you could take it before your leave started strengthens your position so I would suggest that you need to go back to them and insist that you are allowed to take the leave prior to going on maternity leave, unless they can give you a strong business reason for otherwise. Point out that they cannot just pay you for the equivalent of the holiday - the fact that they have included this does indicate that they aren’t quite sure of your rights under maternity leave which again strengthens your negotiating position.

Good luck!

Whilst every care has been taken in compiling this answer, WorkingMums cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions. This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific legal advice.

Anna Docherty has been working in the human resources field since 1993 in both blue chip companies and small companies. Since 2006, she has been an HR Consultant for Docherty HR. To contact her for a private consultation, email her on dochertyhr@btinternet.com. Her website is www.dochertyhr.co.uk.