An employee on maternity leave can work up to 10 keeping in touch (KIT) days for her employer without ending her leave or losing any Statutory Maternity Pay. Any work on a day counts as a whole day, pay for the day is agreed in advance and run through payroll, and the SMP for that week can count towards it as long as she receives at least her SMP. Work beyond the tenth day costs a week of SMP for each week in which it happens.
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What is a keeping in touch day?
Regulation 12A of the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999, which applies in England, Wales and Scotland, lets an employee carry out up to 10 days’ work for her employer during statutory maternity leave without bringing the leave to an end. Work means anything done under the contract of employment and can include training or any activity undertaken to keep in touch with the workplace.
Several limits sit around that rule:
- Ordinary contact is not a KIT day. Reasonable contact from time to time, for example to discuss the return to work, does not end the leave and does not use a day (regulation 12A(4)).
- Not during compulsory leave. KIT days cannot be used in the two weeks after the birth (regulation 12A(5)). GOV.UK notes the compulsory period is four weeks for factory workers and that no KIT day can be used during it.
- Neither side can insist. The regulation gives the employer no right to require work and the employee no right to work (regulation 12A(6)).
- No extension. KIT days do not lengthen the total maternity leave period (regulation 12A(7)).
Why do KIT days not stop Statutory Maternity Pay?
The general rule is that SMP is not payable for a week in which the employee works for the employer. Regulation 9A of the Statutory Maternity Pay (General) Regulations 1986 makes the exception: where she does any work under her contract on any day, but for no more than 10 days, consecutive or not, during her maternity pay period, SMP continues to be payable.
HMRC’s Statutory Payments Manual at SPM200100 confirms that up to 10 KIT days can be worked during the maternity pay period without affecting SMP, taken as single days or in blocks. For the SMP rules more generally, see our guide to Statutory Maternity Pay.
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What counts as one day?
Regulation 12A(2) says any work carried out on any day counts as a day’s work. SPM200100 gives examples: coming in for one hour, attending a training session or going to a meeting each uses a full KIT day. If work spans midnight it counts as one KIT day, but only if that is the employee’s normal working pattern.
That makes a short visit expensive in KIT terms. A one hour meeting and a full working day use the same allowance, so many employers group activities into fewer, fuller days.
How are KIT days paid through payroll?
GOV.UK’s employer guidance says that before any work is done you must agree with the employee what work she will do, how the days will be used, and how much she will be paid for the work.
The pay rule has two parts. You may count the SMP towards the contractual pay agreed for the KIT work, but you must still pay at least the weekly SMP she is entitled to and meet your other statutory obligations, such as paying at least the National Minimum Wage. SPM200100 puts it the same way from the payroll side: wages for the day may be offset against the SMP liability so long as the total of SMP and earnings paid for that SMP week is at least the SMP entitlement.
In payroll, the KIT wages are processed as pay for the period alongside the SMP, and GOV.UK confirms that tax and National Insurance must be deducted from SMP as well; see the FPS and EPS for how each is reported. Only the SMP element is statutory pay you can reclaim, usually at 92%, or 109% with Small Employers’ Relief; see recovering statutory payments. For the 2026 to 2027 tax year SMP is 90% of average weekly earnings for the first six weeks, then £194.32 or 90% of average weekly earnings if lower for the remaining 33 weeks.
What does this look like in numbers?
Illustration only. Leah is in the flat rate part of her maternity pay period, receiving £194.32 SMP a week. Her normal pay is £150 a day. She works two KIT days in one SMP week. Her employer can agree either of these:
| Agreement | SMP | KIT wages | Total for the week |
|---|---|---|---|
| KIT days paid on top of SMP | £194.32 | £300.00 | £494.32 |
| SMP counts towards the £300 agreed for the days | £194.32 | £105.68 | £300.00 |
Both are permitted because Leah receives at least her £194.32 SMP. The legal requirement is that the basis was agreed before she worked. The second approach is cheaper for the employer but is easily misunderstood, so it should be set out in writing. Either way, the employer reclaims only on the £194.32 of SMP.
What happens after the tenth day?
GOV.UK says that once the employee has used her 10 KIT days she loses one week’s SMP for each week or part week in which she works for you, and you cannot pay SMP for those weeks. The maternity pay period is not extended to make up for them. SMP lost this way is always taken from the standard rate weeks first, or from weeks at 90% of average weekly earnings if that is lower than the standard rate.
The count runs by SMP pay week, not calendar week. In the worked example at SPM200100 an employee who has already used six KIT days works a five day week that straddles two SMP pay weeks. The first two days fall in one pay week and are KIT days seven and eight. In the next pay week, two more days take her to ten and the third is a non KIT day, so no SMP is payable for that whole pay week.
If you pay a contractual maternity scheme alongside SMP, check how your policy treats work beyond 10 days, because the statutory rules only govern SMP.
Do the same rules apply to other parents?
SPM200100 applies the same 10 day rule to Statutory Adoption Pay, so an employee on adoption leave can also work 10 KIT days; see Statutory Adoption Pay. Shared parental leave has its own allowance: GOV.UK says an employee can work up to 20 shared parental leave in touch (SPLIT) days, in addition to the 10 KIT days available during maternity or adoption leave. See Statutory Shared Parental Pay.
What mistakes do employers make?
- Treating part days as part of a day. An hour’s work uses a full KIT day.
- Not agreeing pay first. GOV.UK requires the work, the pattern and the pay to be agreed before any work is done.
- Booking a KIT day in compulsory leave. No work can be done in the two weeks after birth, or four for factory workers.
- Losing count. Keep a running log by SMP pay week so the tenth day is not overshot by accident.
- Paying below SMP. Whatever is agreed, the total for the week must not fall below the SMP due.
- Forgetting salary sacrifice. Where pay is sacrificed for benefits during leave, KIT pay interacts with those arrangements; see salary sacrifice during maternity leave.
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Related Accountapedia entries
- Statutory Maternity Pay: employer rules
- Can a company director get Statutory Maternity Pay
- Maternity Allowance for the self employed
- Creditor days
- Debtor days
Sources
- legislation.gov.uk: SI 1999/3312, regulation 12A
- GOV.UK: Statutory maternity pay employee circumstances that affect payment
- legislation.gov.uk: SI 1986/1960, regulation 9A
- GOV.UK: Manual page SPM200100
- GOV.UK: Employers maternity pay leave
- GOV.UK: Recover statutory payments
- GOV.UK: Shared parental leave and pay employer guide
Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.