Maternity leave and pay for teachers and support staff – your rights, how to exercise them and how members and reps can work together to improve pay and working conditions for pregnant women and new mothers in schools and colleges.
Women on maternity leave should be valued, paid correctly, informed of vacancies and changes, and supported on return to work. Good employers engage professionally with absent teachers and support staff, make sure that pay decisions are not discriminatory and facilitate accessible keeping in touch arrangements to ease new mothers on their return to work.
Other employers, however, force pregnant women to take maternity leave earlier than they would like, miscalculate maternity pay, harass new mothers to return early and don’t accommodate or pay keeping in touch days.
Our aim is for all schools and colleges to have policies, systems and support in place to respect, inform and value teachers and support staff who take maternity leave.
