How to manage keeping-in-touch (KIT) days

Before you start

Legal basis. The Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999, regulation 12A (work during maternity leave) and regulation 19(2)(eee) (protection from detriment) [3]; the Shared Parental Leave Regulations 2014, regulation 37 [4]; the Statutory Maternity Pay (General) Regulations 1986, regulation 9A [5]. Adoption leave and Bereaved Partner's Paternity Leave carry the same 10 days [2].

Who to involve. The line manager, HR and payroll.

What you need. The employee's leave dates, their contract and day rate, your family leave and enhanced pay policies, and the current minimum wage rate.

Step 1: Know what counts as a KIT day

• Up to 10 days. An employee may do up to 10 days' work for you during statutory maternity leave without ending it. The days don't extend the leave [3].
• What counts as work. Any work under the contract, including training or an activity to keep in touch with the workplace [3]. Any work on a day counts as a day's work, so two hours uses a whole KIT day [3][6].
• What doesn't. Reasonable contact, such as a conversation about returning to work, is not a KIT day and doesn't end the leave [3].
• Not straight after the birth. The 10 days can't be worked in the two weeks starting with the day of birth [3].
• Shared parental leave. Up to 20 SPLIT days, on the same rules, in addition to the 10 KIT days [2][4].

Step 2: Agree KIT days, never require them

Neither you nor the employee has a right to require work during maternity or shared parental leave [3][4]. KIT days are optional, and both sides have to agree [2][6]. An employee on maternity leave is protected from detriment for working, considering working or refusing to work KIT days [3].

Before the leave starts, agree how you will keep in touch. Let the employee decide how much contact they want, apart from what you must tell them, such as important changes that might affect them [6].

Step 3: Decide what KIT days are for

Step 4: Set the pay

Agree the pay before the day. It can't be below the minimum wage, and the easiest option is normal pay for the day [6]. Paying someone less than they normally get for doing the same work could be discrimination [6].

SMP continues for any week in which the employee works, for up to 10 days in the maternity pay period [5]. Contractual pay and SMP for the same week each count towards the other [7].

Worked example (computed in Python). Salary £35,000 a year, a five-day week, a day's pay at 1/260 of salary (illustrative only, not a benchmark). One KIT day in week 12, when SMP is £194.32 a week.

• A day's pay: £35,000 ÷ 260 = £134.62.
• On top: £194.32 + £134.62 = £328.94 for the week.
• Less the leave pay for the day, taking a day's SMP as one seventh of the weekly rate (£27.76): £134.62 − £27.76 = £106.86, so £301.18 for the week.

Step 5: Count the days and keep a record

• Record each day's date, the work done, the hours and the pay agreed. Any work on a day uses one of the 10 [3].
• Statute protects 10 days in the maternity pay period [3][5]. Acas warns that statutory maternity leave and pay end if an employee works more than 10 [6], so check the count before agreeing the last ones.
• Keep SPLIT days in a separate count of 20 [4].

Step 6: Write it into the policy

Say, in the family leave policy or the enhanced pay policy:

• how many KIT and SPLIT days are available, and that they are optional for both sides;
• how an employee or manager proposes one, and who agrees it;
• what work they are for;
• how they are paid, and how they show on the payslip;
• that any work on a day counts as a whole day.

Checklist

• Contact during leave agreed before the leave starts
• KIT and SPLIT days stated as optional for both sides
• No KIT day in the two weeks starting with the day of birth
• Pay agreed before each day, at or above the minimum wage
• Payroll knows whether KIT pay is on top of, or offset against, leave pay
• Days counted: 10 KIT, 20 SPLIT
• Each day recorded with its date, work and pay
• Policy wording updated

Related

• Maternity, adoption and neonatal pay: UK benchmark 2026 — the benchmark findings behind the figures in this guide.
• How to write an enhanced maternity and adoption pay policy — the policy KIT day pay sits inside.
• How to update your paternity and parental leave policy for the 2026 changes
• How lumi works: methodology — how these figures are collected and calculated.