Full year maternity- funded hours

Has anyone had a whole year off work as maternity leave for second child, whilst first born child still got the full funded hours amount? I’m on about the working parents funded hours. You have to reconfirm every 3 months and SMP covers the income amount they ask, however obvs the last 3 months of maternity would be unpaid- therefore does first born still get the funded hours?? (for the last 3 months) Looking for reassurance from someone who has already experienced please. I want to have the full year off however if I then have to pay for my first born to go to nursery it won’t be worth it. So I’d have to take her out - and potentially risk loosing her space. Thinking about it makes me stressed 😂

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Yes we used the funding while I was on leave for 14 months (maternity + annual leave) and it was fine. You're still employed when on maternity leave.

Yes you get the funded hours for the entirety on your maternity leave. It doesn’t matter what you’re getting paid. You just have to select the maternity option when you reconfirm (I actually found this hard to find so I rang the helpline and the person was amazing and chatted me through it over the phone) x

Ahhhh amazing!!! Thank you! 😅☺️ it was stressing me when it asks about the income pw and just thinking ahead I was like .. ‘I won’t’ 😬😂 so thanks ladies. I can look forward to my full year without that stress haha

You can make it work, by taking annual leave and doing KIT days (keeping in touch days) those last couple of months so that you’re earning. If you keep your leave for when you’re on maternity. That’s how I managed a full year x

That’s such conflicting information 😩😂 I only get 24 days A/L so wouldn’t cover the 3 months. I believe I also only get 10 KIT days so also wouldn’t help. I think I might call the help line to confirm 😅😂

@Hollie in case it helps I did no KIT days until the last month and had no issues at all with the funded hours. It's fine!

I rang them directly to ask the question and they confirmed I’d still get funded hours despite being on unpaid maternity leave (taking a year off) . I haven’t got to that point in my leave yet, but felt reassured having heard it from the horses mouth so to speak! 🙂xx

@Steph ah that’s perfect!! Thank you for confirming.

@Steph I never knew this! I was told you had to be back in work to be able to request the code you need to give the nurseries.. so that’s interesting to know x

Yes I'm pretty sure when you reconfirm and it asks about your income being at least a certain amount, it then states something like if you are on maternity leave go by your usual income, not your maternity pay. I still got funding for my 3 year old throughout my current maternity leave x

@Aimee this is regarding an older child continuing to get the hours, not the child you’re on maternity for.

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