Keeping in Touch Days- Split and Kit Days

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Keeping in Touch Days

Keeping in Touch Days (KIT days) are days that a new parent can use to keep in touch with the workplace without affecting the entitlement to pay, before returning to work from maternity,  adoption or additional paternity leave. You can have up to 10 KIT days.  These can be used either to undertake work or, for instance, to attend meetings, team events or training. Your employer has no right to insist that you work any KIT days, and you have no right to insist on working any either.

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Shared Parental Leave in Touch Days

Shared Parental Leave In Touch days (SPLIT days) are used by partners taking Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and are basically the same as KIT days. You and your employer can make reasonable contact from time to time without bringing SPL to an end by virtue of Regulation 37 of the Shared Parental Leave Regulations 2014.  Under Regulations 37(1)-37(2), you and your partner each have the right to 20 SPLIT days during SPL. These can be used either to undertake work or, for instance, to attend meetings, team events or training (Regulation 37(4)). Your employer has no right to insist that you work any SPLIT days, and you have no right to insist on working any either.

You and your partner have up to 20 keeping-in-touch (KIT) days each, which can be taken as single days or in blocks of days. This is in addition to the 10 keeping-in-touch days available to the mother or primary adopter during maternity leave or adoption leave.

Contact between you and your employer to discuss your return to work, or any other reasonable contact between you from time to time, does not qualify as a SPLIT day – Regulation 37(5) 

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Payment for Split Days

The legislation does not say anything about being paid for working a SPLIT day, but the BIS Technical Guide says;

• SPLIT days allows work to be done under the employee’s contract of employment, therefore the employee is entitled to be paid for that work
• the rate of pay is a matter for agreement with the employer, and may be as set out in the employment contract or as agreed on a case-by-case basis
• the rate will at the very least need to meet national minimum wage obligations (see National minimum wage)

Any amount of work done on a SPLIT day counts as one SPLIT day, so even if you go in for two hours it counts as one SPLIT day – Reg 37(3)

You are protected against being subjected to a detriment for reasons related to SPLIT days, and also from unfair dismissal because of shared parental leave. Regulations 42 and 43