Keeping in Touch Days Pay
You can work up to 10 keeping in touch (KIT) days during maternity leave without losing any Statutory Maternity Pay. What a KIT day pays is agreed with your employer before you work it, and your employer may count your SMP towards that pay.
How do keeping in touch days work?
KIT days let you work for your employer during maternity leave without ending your leave. They sit inside the Statutory Maternity Pay rules, which set four limits.
Up to 10 days
Without losing SMP or ending your leave
Any work counts
Even an hour is a whole KIT day
Pay is agreed
Before any work is done
Not just after the birth
2 weeks of compulsory leave, 4 in a factory
Before any work is done, you and your employer agree what work you will do, whether the days are in a row, one at a time or in blocks, and how much you will be paid. Compulsory maternity leave is the 2 weeks immediately after the birth, or 4 weeks if you work in a factory, and you cannot work or use a KIT day in it.
Working a KIT day does not cost you SMP for that week, even if the week contains nothing but KIT days. The Maternity Pay Calculator shows the SMP you keep across your 39 paid weeks; it does not add KIT day pay.
Are KIT days paid on top of SMP?
Only if your agreement says so. GOV.UK lets your employer count your SMP towards the pay agreed for a KIT day, as long as they still pay your weekly SMP and at least the National Minimum Wage.
So the answer depends on your agreement and your scheme. Where SMP is counted towards the KIT pay, a KIT day adds the difference between the agreed pay and the SMP already due. Where it is not, the agreed pay comes on top. Ask before the day what you will be paid and whether SMP is counted towards it.
Is a KIT day in the first 6 weeks worth it?
In the first 6 weeks SMP is 90% of your average weekly earnings, the highest it gets. If your employer counts SMP towards the KIT pay, a day worked then adds less than the same day later in your leave, when SMP is lower or has stopped. On the NHS, a KIT day in the full pay period also earns a day of paid leave in lieu.
What happens after 10 KIT days?
You lose one week of SMP for each week or part week you work for your employer after the 10th KIT day.
Because any work on a day counts as a whole KIT day, an hour-long meeting uses a full day of the 10. Count them before agreeing to more.
How KIT days are paid by employer scheme
Some public sector schemes set their own KIT pay rule on top of the statutory floor.
| Employer or scheme | How a KIT day is paid |
|---|---|
| Any employer (the statutory rules) | Whatever you agree before the day. Your employer may count your SMP towards it, but must still pay your SMP and at least the National Minimum Wage. |
| NHS, Agenda for Change | Your basic daily rate for the hours worked, less your maternity pay for that time, plus leave in lieu: a day for a KIT day in the full pay period, half a day in the half pay period. |
| NHSScotland | Paid as if you were at work, with NHS maternity pay and SMP together not above your normal average weekly pay. |
| Teachers, Northern Ireland | Normal full pay for the days worked, reduced by your maternity payments. |
| Teachers, England and Wales | The Burgundy Book maternity scheme has no KIT day provision, so the statutory rules and your agreement with the school apply. |
| Scottish Government | No extra pay while you get full contractual maternity pay. On SMP or no pay, a top-up to full pay for that day. |
| Welsh Government | On SMP or no pay, paid for the hours actually worked, including any statutory pay. |
Keeping in touch days on the NHS
Agenda for Change staff can work up to 10 KIT days without ending their leave (handbook 15.70). Each is paid at the basic daily rate for the hours worked, less the occupational or statutory maternity pay for that time (15.75), and earns leave in lieu: a day for a KIT day in the full pay period, half a day in the half pay period. No KIT day can be worked in the 2 weeks of compulsory leave (15.72). To see the weeks of NHS maternity pay your KIT days fall in, run your figures first.
Keeping in touch days for teachers
In Northern Ireland a teacher may agree up to 10 KIT days with the school without losing SMP, Maternity Allowance or occupational pay, and is paid normal full pay for the days worked, reduced by the maternity payments (TNC 2021/1). The Burgundy Book maternity scheme for England and Wales has no KIT day provision, so the statutory rules and the agreement with the school apply. The maternity pay calculator for teachers shows which pay band each week of your leave sits in.
Keeping in touch days in the Civil Service
The Scottish Government pays nothing extra for a KIT day while you receive full contractual maternity pay, and tops you up to full pay for the day while you receive SMP or no pay. The Welsh Government pays for the hours actually worked, including any statutory pay, when you are on SMP or no pay. Weeks of Civil Service maternity pay vary by department.
Keeping in touch days: common questions
How many KIT days can you take?
Up to 10 during maternity leave, without losing SMP or ending your leave. After the 10th, each week or part week you work costs a week of SMP.
Are KIT days compulsory?
KIT days are worked by agreement. GOV.UK tells employers that before any work is done they must agree with you what you will do, which days, and what you will be paid.
Do KIT days end my maternity leave?
No. Up to 10 KIT days do not end your maternity leave or stop your SMP for the weeks you work them.
Does a short KIT day count as a full day?
Yes. Any work on a day, even an hour, counts as a whole KIT day.
Will I still get SMP in a week of KIT days?
Yes, as long as you stay within 10 KIT days in total. You do not lose SMP for any week in which you do some KIT work.
Sources
The statutory rules come from HMRC guidance and GOV.UK, and each scheme rule from that scheme's own policy. Checked 8 October 2026.
- Statutory Maternity Pay: employee circumstances that affect payment (HMRC): 10 KIT days, agreed pay, SMP offset, the rule after day 10
- Maternity pay and leave: Leave (GOV.UK): compulsory maternity leave
- NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook, version 63, paragraphs 15.70 to 15.76 (NHS Employers)
- Maternity Policy (NHSScotland Workforce Policies, version 1.3)
- TNC 2021/1 Teachers' Maternity Leave Scheme (Department of Education, Northern Ireland)
- Burgundy Book, Section 5 (Maternity Scheme), June 2023 edition
- Scottish Government maternity policy (FOI release, 21 October 2024)
- Welsh Government maternity and adoption leave policy (ATISN 23266, released 12 February 2025)
This is general information, not employment or legal advice. Your employer's policy and your agreement decide what a KIT day pays.