Maternity Absence for Directors

What counts as work ?

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A sole director has discovered that she is pregnant and is planning her maternity absence.  The company's trade is cleaning and currently has two employees besides the director.  Obviously, the director will be giving up on the cleaning work for a period but does she also need to refrain from the admin too ?  Much can be delegated but some, such as signing off confirmation statements and accounts, cannot.

Does the company need to appoint another director to cover the maternity leave ?

Replies (18)

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Euan's picture
By Euan MacLennan
15th Jan 2018 11:13

What does it matter what counts as work?
Oh - I get it! It is not the maternity leave, but the Statutory Maternity Pay which concerns you. Why didn't you say?
If she continues to do the admin for the cleaning business - talking to customers, raising invoices, etc. - she is working for the business, As sonn as she stars doing the admin, her maternity leave and SMP end.
I would not however be concerned about her just signing the accounts.

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Replying to Euan MacLennan:
RLI
By lionofludesch
15th Jan 2018 11:26

Ha - fair point Euan.

Yeah - she's no intention of doing anything in the line of managing the business beyond her statutory obligations.

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By andy.partridge
15th Jan 2018 11:18

Don't forget KIT days. Still up to 10?

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Replying to andy.partridge:
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By lionofludesch
15th Jan 2018 11:26

Good point - that'll probably cover it.

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Replying to andy.partridge:
Euan's picture
By Euan MacLennan
15th Jan 2018 11:45

Indeed

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By Mr_awol
15th Jan 2018 11:56

Some of my female sole directors have reported that they get very tired running a business whilst pregnant, especially those on a low salary topped up by dividends, and they get especially tired during the SMP qualifying period. They often require a little bit of extra motivation, such as a bonus paid through PAYE, to keep them going at these difficult times.

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Replying to Mr_awol:
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By andy.partridge
15th Jan 2018 12:05

Has someone hacked your account?

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Replying to andy.partridge:
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By Mr_awol
15th Jan 2018 12:25

You haven't noticed this phenomenon?

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Replying to Mr_awol:
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By Chipette
15th Jan 2018 12:29

Have you tried being pregnant?

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Replying to Chipette:
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By Mr_awol
15th Jan 2018 13:27

No, but it's on my list of things to try if I ever get tired of working full time - along with becoming a teacher.

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Replying to Mr_awol:
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By andy.partridge
15th Jan 2018 14:40

Never

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Replying to Mr_awol:
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By andy.partridge
15th Jan 2018 14:43

Never, but I did have my Twitter account hacked once so I figured that was the more likely explanation for you.

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Replying to andy.partridge:
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By Mr_awol
15th Jan 2018 15:30

Must have been traumatic.

In the meantime, Lion may enquire (if not already done so) as to whether his client is in need of a similar short-term motivation, depending of course on the specifics of her case. £2k per month is a good figure

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Replying to Mr_awol:
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By andy.partridge
15th Jan 2018 15:41

Not especially. The hacker DM'd all my followers trying to sell them branded sunglasses.

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Replying to Mr_awol:
RLI
By lionofludesch
15th Jan 2018 15:46

Mr_awol wrote:

Must have been traumatic.

In the meantime, Lion may enquire (if not already done so) as to whether his client is in need of a similar short-term motivation, depending of course on the specifics of her case. £2k per month is a good figure

A pay wedge at the right moment can indeed be helpful.

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Replying to lionofludesch:
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By Mr_awol
15th Jan 2018 16:24

and the cost of c£900 NI (assuming some spare e'ers allowance left) and a modest accountancy fee is easily offset by c£2,500 of SMP funding (last time I got the payroll elves to check my numbers anyway).

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By pauljohnston
17th Jan 2018 11:18

You should consider the two roles seperately although in reality they are rarely considered this way.

The first is to do work as you have covered and the second is as an officer of the company. My understanding that is that the later is not employment but services and therefore not covered by SMP.

Same answer but a bit more info if you need to explain it.

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By pauljohnston
17th Jan 2018 11:18

You should consider the two roles seperately although in reality they are rarely considered this way.

The first is to do work as you have covered and the second is as an officer of the company. My understanding that is that the later is not employment but services and therefore not covered by SMP.

Same answer but a bit more info if you need to explain it.

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