Maternity leave - University of Oxford

EMPLOYEES’ MATERNITY LEAVE PLANBefore completing this form you must read all the guidance on maternity leave available fromthe Personnel Services website.You should complete this form together with your departmental administrator.Telling your departmental administrator you are pregnantYou can tell your departmental administrator you are pregnant as soon as you want to. Thiscan be before you have decided when to start maternity leave, and before you give yourdepartmental administrator this form. You will need to tell your departmental administrator ifyou want to take paid time off for antenatal appointments. The latest date you can informyour departmental administrator of your pregnancy is the 15th week before your expectedweek of childbirth (the qualifying week). Form MATB1, which you will receive from yourmidwife or doctor will tell you the date your baby is due. Your qualifying week can then beworked out. Your departmental administrator can help you with this.Your departmental administrator needs to make health and safety checks (e.g. about DSE,manual lifting, etc.) when he or she knows you are pregnant in order to protect you and yourbaby, so the earlier you feel able to tell your department, the sooner these checks can bemade.Telling your departmental administrator when you want to take maternity leaveYou must tell your departmental administrator by the 15th week before your expected weekof childbirth the date on which you want to start your maternity leave and begin to receivematernity pay. You should therefore give this completed form to your departmentaladministrator at the latest during the 15th week before your expected week of childbirth.If you then wish to change the date on which you want to start your maternity leave you mustgive your departmental administrator 28 days’ notice of the new date.How to use the planThe plan is in three parts: notes to help you complete it are given in the right hand column ofthe form.Part A will help you to work out whether you qualify for the University’s maternity leavescheme. You will find it helpful to have a calendar or diary handy when you are filling out theform.Part B should be used to set out when you would like to begin your maternity leave and toindicate when your expected date of return to work will be.Part C should be used if you decide to return to work before the end of your plannedmaternity leave.