What are KIT & SPLIT days, & your rights & responsibilities as an employer?

More and more, flexible working arrangements are becoming the norm for organisations. That includes policies like KIT days (or Keeping In Touch days) and SPLIT days (Shared Parental Leave In Touch), designed to keep employees on parental leave engaged with their job roles, and in contact with their colleagues.

While not a statutory right or requirement, KIT days can be a helpful way for employees to stay in the loop, and enjoy a smoother transition on their eventual return to work life. 

Let’s face it: it can be daunting for any worker to simply pick up where they left off after an extended period of leave. Having a few days, perhaps one day a week for several weeks, where they can check in and catch up with colleagues and managers, can make the return to work a little more palatable (read less Sunday Scaries).

Let’s learn a little bit more about what KIT and SPLIT days are, and what your rights and responsibilities are as an employer in providing this service.

What are KIT days?

This funky sounding acronym stands for “Keeping in Touch” days. A KIT day gives an employee on maternity or adoption leave the opportunity to go back into work and pick up their normal service or duties.

While adorable, bringing ‘Baby’ into work to meet colleagues doesn’t count as a KIT day — your employee still needs to do some kind of work. But the parameters around how much time they must spend working and when to come in are flexible —  they’re down to you and the individual worker to agree on.

The worker is paid at their usual rate for these hours worked, and allowed to resume their leave period again afterwards if they choose.

Are KIT days a statutory right?

As mentioned at the start, employers are not obliged to offer KIT days to their employees. In other words, KIT days are not an automatic or ‘statutory’ workplace right, nor are they something an employer can force on specific individuals. It’s also important to treat workers taking these days just as you would any other at your organisation.

What is the difference between KIT and SPLIT days? 

While KIT days apply specifically to one parent (say a mother on Maternity Leave) SPLIT days, or Shared Parental Leave In Touch days, apply to employees on Shared Parental Leave. In essence, SPLIT is very much the same as KIT, though slightly more flexible. Parents on shared leave are entitled to receive up to 20 SPLIT days without ending their leave period. 

It’s also worth noting that SPLIT days should be used in addition to KIT days, and that KIT days can be carried forward into Shared Parental Leave. Although they’ll need to stop their Maternity Leave first, before starting Shared Parental Leave, in order to use their 20 SPLIT days. 

How many KIT days are employees entitled to?

During their Parental or Adoption leave, employees can work up to 10 Keeping In Touch days. That is, without bringing their paid leave period to an end. For Shared Parental Leave, that allowance is higher — employees are entitled to work up to 20 days without bringing their leave to an end.

What can KIT and SPLIT days be used for?

While some employees might decide to take the odd KIT day here or there, others may use them as a way to resume work part-time (say by coming back into the office one day a week over several weeks). This provides a gradual return to the workplace. 

What are the benefits of KIT/SPLIT days for employees?

KIT days are also a great way for employees to:

• Stay in contact and socialise with close colleagues 

• Receive updates on any changes that may have come up during their leave

• Offer additional support on ongoing projects when other members of the team take leave

• Ask any questions they may have about their leave, pay, role, or returning to work

Do employees get full pay for KIT days?

As we covered before, KIT days are not a statutory right or requirement, therefore there’s no specific guidance for what rates to pay. 

However, the rate you pay needs to be at the very least in line with minimum wage. It should also be agreed on with the employee in question before they start to come in for work on their KIT days. 

Most employers will happily pay for a full day’s work so that retention or engagement doesn’t drop. Maternity Action backs this up as good practice, given the employee will likely incur the same expenses they usually would (e.g. travel and childcare costs) for these types of days.

Are KIT days paid on top of SMP?

They can be. One option is to top up the employee’s daily rate of Statutory Maternity Pay. Alternatively, KIT days can be paid in addition to SMP. It’s up to you as the employer to define these payment terms in your maternity policy. 

As mentioned before, you’ll want to make sure the employee is at the very least receiving minimum wage for the hours they work (that’s excluding the SMP daily rate as calculated below).

For example: If the employee works two hours, and you top up their SMP to a full day’s pay, the additional pay needs to equate to more than minimum wage for two hours worked. If you only top up the SMP for these two hours worked, this would take you below minimum wage. 

How do you calculate the SMP daily rate?

To determine the daily rate for SMP use the following formula.

Weekly rate of 172.48 / 7 days = SMP daily rate

Do KIT days have to be full days?

Employees don’t have to provide a full 8-hour day’s service for it to be classed as a KIT day. If they come to work, even just for a few hours, they can count this toward their allowance. This is useful, say, if an employee wants to come in to do an hour’s training or just to catch up with their manager.

As an employer, it’s important not to force an employee to work their full daily hours over the ten days. 

What are an employer’s responsibilities regarding KIT & SPLIT days?

By now, you probably have a sense of some of your responsibilities that comes with providing KIT or SPLIT days. Here’s a quick round-up.

• As KIT and SPLIT days are voluntary, employers must not compel employees to work on these occasions.

• Employees must also be given adequate notice for these days, and not reprimanded for deciding not to show up on these days.

• When it comes to SPLIT days, employers must ensure employees are, in fact, eligible for this type of parental leave and meet requirements for SPLIT day entitlement.

• Employers must also provide employees with written confirmation of their SPLIT day arrangement, and adjust pay accordingly.

• Just as any other normal work day, you need to ensure employee health and safety isn’t compromised on these days.

• If additional training is required, you’ll need to provide this too.

To sum things up

KIT and SPLIT days can be incredibly helpful for employees. They help those on months or weeks of parental leave to stay connected, refresh their skills, and avoid feeling left out. But in providing these days, there are several responsibilities you need to observe as an employer to ensure employees make the most of them.

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