Return to Work After Maternity Leave: Your Rights, KIT Days and Flexible Working

You can work up to 10 Keeping in Touch (KIT) days during maternity leave without ending leave or Statutory Maternity Pay, and you have a legal right to return to the same job after ordinary maternity leave (or a suitable alternative after longer leave). Anyone can request flexible working from day one of a job — your employer must respond within two months and can only refuse for specific business reasons. Do the childcare maths on household income, not on the returning parent's salary alone.

Who should skip this return-to-work guide?

Skip this if you are still deciding whether to take maternity leave at all — start with maternity leave and pay and the SMP calculator. Skip it if you are self-employed (KIT days and the same-job right are employee rules; Maternity Allowance has a different shape). Skip it if you have already been given a written return-to-work plan by HR that you are happy with: that letter is the document that matters.

What are Keeping in Touch (KIT) days and how should you use them?

You can work up to 10 KIT days during maternity leave without it ending your leave or your Statutory Maternity Pay. They are optional on both sides — your employer cannot force you to work them, and you do not have to accept if asked. Pay is whatever you and your employer agree (often your normal daily rate, minus any SMP already due that day). Get it in writing before you go in (GOV.UK — employee rights when on leave, checked 12 August 2026).

Used well, KIT days are a phased re-entry you control: a team away-day in month six, a handover week before returning, training that would otherwise happen without you. Used badly, they become unpaid-feeling "just pop in" days. Ten is a ceiling, not a target.

Shared Parental Leave has a separate allowance of up to 20 Shared Parental Leave In Touch (SPLIT) days on top of KIT days. If you are splitting leave, check both.

Do you have the right to return to the same job?

Yes after ordinary maternity leave (the first 26 weeks): the exact same job, on the same terms. After additional maternity leave (weeks 27–52) you are still entitled to the same job unless it is genuinely not reasonably practicable, in which case your employer must offer a suitable alternative on terms no less favourable (GOV.UK — maternity pay and leave, checked 12 August 2026).

If you want to return before the date you originally gave, you must give at least 8 weeks' notice. Your employer can delay your return until those 8 weeks are up if you give less.

Can you request flexible working when you return?

Yes. Since 6 April 2024, the right to request flexible working applies to any employee from day one of employment — you no longer need 26 weeks' service first. You can request a change to hours, days or location (including working from home), and you are allowed two requests in any 12-month period. Your employer must consult you, respond within two months (including any appeal), and can only refuse for one of eight specific business reasons set out in law (GOV.UK — flexible working, checked 12 August 2026).

Practical advice that improves the odds: propose a specific arrangement (days, hours, location) rather than an open question, frame it around how the work gets done, and suggest a trial period. Trials convert sceptical managers better than arguments do. A refusal must name which of the eight reasons applies — "we don't do that here" is not one of them.

What should you sort before your first day back?

Confirm your return date in writing, especially if you are returning early or tacking annual leave onto the end of maternity leave. Ask about a phased return — not a legal right, but many employers agree to reduced hours for the first few weeks informally. Sort childcare and a backup plan well before the date. Start mid-week so the first week is two days, not five. Do nursery settling-in sessions before your start date, not during it.

Employers must carry out a risk assessment for breastfeeding employees and provide somewhere suitable to rest. They should provide a private, non-toilet space to express milk if you ask (HSE — breastfeeding at work, checked 12 August 2026). Put the request in writing before you return so Facilities is not improvising a store cupboard on day one.

How should you run the childcare maths?

Do the sums on household income rather than measuring nursery fees against the returning parent's salary alone — the framing that quietly pushes women out of careers. Factor in funded hours from 9 months in England, Tax-Free Childcare (£2 added per £8 paid in, up to £2,000 per child per year), and the pension contributions, NI record and career progression that continuing to work protects. Sometimes the honest answer is still that the maths does not work — but run the full calculation before deciding. Our baby cost guide and childcare funding tools hub are the two pages that hold the current schemes.

What helps in the first fortnight back?

Almost everyone finds it harder than expected — and then it settles. Expect the nursery-illness gauntlet in month one and pre-agree with your partner who covers which sick days. Guilt is near-universal and not a signal you have made the wrong choice; it is a signal you care about both things. If the job you returned to is not the job you left, that is a legal issue as well as an emotional one — ACAS and your union (if you have one) are the next call, not a forum thread.