What Are Keeping in Touch Days for Employees in England?

The law has developed certain tools designed to encourage communication between an employer and an employee taking maternity leave. As an employer yourself, you may wish to familiarise yourself with Keep In Touch (KIT) days, which are one form of these tools. While you do not have to offer KIT days to your employees, if you choose to do so, there are certain points you should bear in mind to minimise the risk of an employee making an employment claim against your business.This article will explain what you, as an employer, need to know about KIT days for employees on maternity leave in England. 

What is a Keeping in Touch Day?

Keeping In Touch (KIT) days are days when an employee taking maternity leave can undertake work for you as their employer. Importantly, KIT days do not bring the employee’s maternity period to an automatic end. Their purpose is to encourage communication and continuity between you and your employee. It also gives your employee a chance to familiarise themselves with any changes you have implemented in the workplace since they took their maternity leave. 

As an employer, you have broad flexibility to determine what sort of work eligible employees can undertake as part of a KIT day. Some common examples include:

• attending a conference or team training; and 
• consulting on certain aspects of an ongoing project. 

As the purpose of KIT days is to foster communication, you should work with your employee to devise productive KIT days.

How Many Keeping in Touch Days Can an Employee Take?

The law permits an employee to take up to 10 working days as KIT days without bringing their maternity leave period to an end. However, you are not under any obligation to offer any KIT days. You likewise may choose to only provide one or two KIT days. Similarly, you cannot obligate an employee taking their maternity leave entitlement to take a KIT day. 

Your employee can take their keeping in touch days and shared parental leave in touch days:

• at any point during their time on maternity or adoption leave except for during the compulsory maternity leave period;
• during the shared parental leave period;
• whilst on paid leave;
• whilst on unpaid leave
• consecutively; or 
• non-consecutively.

Any period worked during a single KIT day counts as a whole day. For example, if your employee attends a two-hour training session and nothing else, this counts as a single KIT day. 

An employee cannot take a KIT day during their mandatory two-week period following the birth of their child. If your employee is engaged in factory work, this mandatory period is extended for an additional two weeks. 

KIT days are separate from your employee’s entitlement to Shared Parental Leave in touch days (SPLIT) and other parental leave entitlement. This is in addition to their keeping-in-touch days and can be up to an extra 20 days for each parent. If you and your employee agree they will take these days, they also do not bring their maternity pay and leave to an end.

Organising a Keeping in Touch Day

There are various things your employee may do on one of their keeping-in-touch days. What is essential is that:

• you both agree on what this is before deciding to have keeping-in-touch days; and
• it is something that your employee usually does as part of their employment contract.

You also need to agree on what you will pay your employee on a KIT day, and this must not fall below the National Minimum Wage. When you decide on this, you must not include their Statutory Maternity Pay as part of the pay assessed for any KIT day. 

Separately, you and your employee will need to agree on where the KIT day takes place. For instance, it might be at your usual workplace or your employee’s residence.

 Further Considerations

During your employee’s maternity leave, you have a legal entitlement to make reasonable contact with them. This could be to:

• discuss work with your employee but not for them to engage in it; or
• allow your employee to bring their baby to work to show colleagues.

This type of reasonable contact is not counted as a KIT day or a Shared Parental Leave in touch day.

Key Takeaways

As an employer, the law encourages you to stay in touch with your employees on maternity leave. This fosters employee-employer relationships and aids the employee’s reintegration back into the workplace when they return. Keeping In Touch (KIT) days are one such tool you and your employee can voluntarily arrange. You are not obligated to offer any KIT days, nor can you compel an employee to take any KIT days. You and your employee are free to arrange the activities of the KIT day. Common examples include training days or attending a conference. KIT days differ from other maternity entitlements. An employee can take up to ten KIT days without automatically ending their maternity leave. You are permitted to make occasional reasonable contact, which is not a KIT day.  

If you need help understanding keeping in touch days for employees on maternity or adoption leave in England, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. For a low monthly fee, you will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. Call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

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