Maternity/Adoptive Leave

Maternity Leave Podcast

The sequencing arrangements for maternity entitlements are:

• Maternity leave (26 weeks).
• Any statutory additional unpaid maternity leave (maximum of 16 weeks).
• Leave in lieu in respect of 26 weeks maternity leave (maximum of 30 working days in lieu).
• Leave in lieu in respect of any public holidays occurring during statutory additional unpaid maternity leave.
• Non-statutory additional unpaid maternity leave to end of school year (to 31st August).
• Leave in lieu in respect of any public holidays occurring during the initial 13 weeks of non-statutory additional unpaid maternity leave to the end of the school year.

Revised Maternity/Adoptive Leave Arrangements from January 2009

A revised arrangement was introduced in January 2009 for teachers taking Maternity / Adoptive Leave who pay Class A rate PRSI contributions. This arrangement was necessary to comply with Revenue and DSFA regulations. As the Maternity / Adoptive benefit is not liable for income tax, income levy, pension related deductions or PRSI deductions. This change ensures that benefit is paid to all eligible teachers without any deductions of such charges.

From January 2009, teachers can claim the Maternity Benefit directly from the DSFA on receipt of the MB10 Claim Form. Copies of the MB10 form can be downloaded from the Department of Social and Family Affairs website www.welfare.ie.

On receipt of the form by the DSFA, the DSFA will pay the teacher directly the mount of maternity/adoptive benefit due to them. Consequently, from January 2009, the deduction in value equivalent to the rate of Maternity / Adoptive benefit payable to the teacher has been deducted fortnightly from teachers paying Class A PRSI who are on maternity / adoptive leave. The maximum amount of benefit payable by the DSFA is €270 per week from 01/01/2009 and the Department of Education and Skills has deducted the relevant amount from the salary fo teachers on Maternity / Adoptive Leave who are liable for Class A PRSI contributions.

Therefore, the teacher on Maternity / Adoptive leave benefit who pays Class A PRSI contributions will receive their full salary but will receive it from two different quarters. They will receive Maternity / Adoptive benefit directly from the Department of Social & Family Affairs and they will receive their salary minus the amount of benefit from the Department of Education and Skills.

Teachers should note that if the amount of Maternity Benefits is less than the maximum (€280), or if the person is not entitled to have the benefit equivalent deducted (due to non-eligibility) then they should notify the relevant payroll section of the Department of Education and Skills to ensure that salary adjustments are correct. Changes to automatic deduction of the maximum amount will be made if accompanied by confirmation from the Department of Social and Family Affairs that the teacher is not in receipt of the full amount of the benefit.

Pay Arrangements and Maternity Benefit

PRSI contributors at the modified rate (Class D)
Under DSP regulations, class D have no entitlement to maternity benefit. Therefore no deduction is applied to their salary and they remain on their ordinary rate of pay.

PRSI Contributors at the full rate (Class A)
Any maternity benefit payable by DSP will issue directly to the staff member in question. A deduction from salary equivalent to the maximum weekly rate of maternity benefit payable to the teacher will initially be applied by the Department.

• MB10 Completion
  Download MB10 Form

• Adoptive Benefit
  Download AB1 Form

The teacher should complete their section of the MB10 form, and ensure that the school enters the maternity / adoptive leave absence record on the On Line Claim System (OLCS) and completes the employer's portion of the form at least 6 weeks before the claim is due and send it to the Department of Social and Family Affairs. Failure to submit the form to DSFA six weeks in advance of the teacher going on maternity / adoptive leave may result in a delay in payment of the benefit to the claimant. All the details necessary to complete the MB10 form will be displayed on the OLCS once the maternity/adoptive leave record is keyed in.

Instructions on how to complete the MB10 form are attached in Appendix B of Circular 11/2011.

The deduction of the equivalent maternity/adoptive leave benefit will be made fortnightly during the period of paid leave up to a maximum of 26 weeks for maternity leave and 24 weeks for adoptive leave.

Changes to Automatic Deduction
If the amount of benefit payable to the staff member is less than the maximum, or if a person is not entitled to any maternity benefit, they should notify their payroll section immediately to ensure that the salary adjustments are correct. Changes to the automatic deduction can be made provided the teacher furnishes a copy of DSP's written notice of the actual benefit rate applicable, if any, to the relevant payroll. Deductions, where appropriate, will be made fortnightly during the period of paid leave up to a maximum of 26 weeks for maternity leave. If the absences are recorded late any arrears due will have to be deducted from salary after the date of notification.

If the absence of the teacher on Maternity/Adoptive leave is not entered in time, any arrears due will be deducted from the salary of the teacher after the date of notification.

Taxation of Maternity Benefit
As previously stated, Maternity/Adoptive Leave payment is not liable for tax or levies and the new arrangements ensure that the tax arrangements will be correctly applied to the salary of the individual.

The MB10 Form should no longer be sent to the Department of Education and Skills but should be sent directly to the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

NB: Please note that the Employer's Section of the MB10 and AB1 Forms (Part 4 of the form) must be filled in by the Board of Management and not the Department of Education and Skills as previously was the case. When this form has been completed in full by the teacher and the Board of Management, the teacher sends the form directly to the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

Circular 84/2008 deals with the revised sequence of maternity leave/adoptive leave. This change in sequencing comes as a result of a claim from the three teacher unions at the Teachers' Conciliation Council. A difficulty had arisen with regard to maintaining a continuous PRSI contribution record while on maternity/ adoptive leave and in order to rectify that problem it was necessary to rearrange the manner in which teachers took maternity/adoptive leave.

Unpaid Maternity Leave

Statutory Additional Unpaid Maternity Leave
Commencing on the day immediately following completion of maternity leave, a teacher has the option to take a maximum of 16 consecutive weeks statutory additional unpaid maternity leave. If a teacher intends to avail of this option then application for the leave shall be made, on the prescribed form supplied in Appendix A to this circular. To facilitate salary adjustment, teachers are asked to make such application at least 6 weeks prior to the commencement of such leave.

The statutory entitlement to unpaid maternity/adoptive leave is 16 weeks unpaid leave. Teachers applying for unpaid maternity/adoptive leave must take their unpaid maternity/adoptive leave immediately following the paid maternity/adoptive leave period.

Non Statutory Additional Unpaid Maternity Leave to the End of the School Year

There is a second option available to teachers which is extended unpaid maternity/adoptive leave until the end of the school year, ie 31 August. Teachers need to notify their board of management four weeks before the end of their paid leave of their intention to take unpaid maternity/adoptive leave.

In the case of both maternity and adoptive leave, teachers applying to take a period of unpaid maternity/adoptive leave will benefit from an  entitlement of up to 16 weeks. Teachers have the option of availing of extended unpaid maternity/adoptive leave until the end of the school year. (Unpaid maternity/adoptive leave to the end of the school year is at the discretion of the board of management)

• A teacher who, on completion of maternity leave, statutory additional unpaid maternity leave and leave in lieu, as appropriate, may apply for 'non-statutory additional unpaid maternity leave to the end of the school year'. For non VEC schools, this leave is to be entered on OLCS under the Family Leave sub category with the shorter title of 'Extended Unpaid Maternity Leave'. The longer title has been used for the purpose of greater clarity in this circular.
• In the context of this leave the 'end of the school year' is taken to mean August 31st. For example, if all the other leave types referred to above were to expire by May 4th, and the teacher in question wished to remain out of school for the rest of the school year, rather than return for a short period, then the non-statutory additional unpaid leave must continue until August 31st inclusive.
• This leave type is not a statutory entitlement and it is subject to obtaining written sanction from the Managerial Authority of the school. The Employer should be notified at least six weeks in advance of an intention to avail of this leave.
• Teachers opting to extend their absence by taking 'non-statutory additional unpaid maternity leave to the end of the school year' are entitled to paid leave in lieu for any public holiday occurring during the initial 13 week period of that type of leave. As the end of the school year in this instance refers to 31st August any such days in lieu should be awarded commencing from 1st September. If there are no days in lieu to award following this leave type then duties should resume from September 1st.

PRSI Credits for Unpaid Maternity Leave

• A PRSI employment contribution credit is given by the Department of Social and Family Affairs for each week of additional unpaid statutory maternity leave up to a maximum of 16 weeks. The Department of Social and Family Affairs state that the additional unpaid statutory leave must follow directly after paid statutory maternity leave.
• The Department of Social and Family Affairs will only credit the teacher with a PRSI employment contribution credit in the case where the unpaid maternity statutory leave follows immediately after the paid maternity leave. Under the current sequence where leave in lieu follows directly after maternity leave this breaks the continuity between the maternity leave and the unpaid maternity leave. This is considered by the Department of Social and Family Affairs to indicate a return to work resulting in a cessation of entitlements to credits. In order to maintain the continuity of the PRSI employment contributions it is necessary to change the sequence which currently applies. 
• In addition, the existing provision to take non-statutory unpaid maternity leave until the end of the school year will continue for teachers. In respect of adoptive leave the same arrangements which apply in the case of maternity leave will apply.

Maternity Leave in Lieu

• Where maternity leave overlaps with planned school closures (Christmas, Easter, Mid term, Summer Break, public holidays and, where appropriate, religious holidays), a teacher shall be entitled to leave in lieu for all such days which overlap, subject to a maximum of 30 working days. School closures which do not form part of the scheduled school holidays (e.g. closures due to inclement weather, polling or other exceptional situations) do not count in accruing leave in lieu or taking leave in lieu.
• Where statutory additional unpaid maternity leave, as defined in paragraph 4.1, overlaps with public holidays, a teacher shall be entitled to leave in lieu for all such public holidays.

Are You Entitled to a Tax Refund?

Teachers on first appointment are asked to complete a form of authorisation of Sick Leave Benefit/Maternity/Adoptive leave benefit mandate.

This mandate authorises the Department of Social and Family Affairs to pay any benefit due to the teacher in respect of such absences under the social insurance scheme directly to the Department of Education and Skills.

The Department of Education and Skills will continue to pay a teacher full salary while on maternity leave or while on sick leave and will reclaim from the Department Of Social And Family Affairs any benefits due to the teacher under either scheme.

DSFA maternity benefit is not regarded as income for the purposes of the Income Tax Acts and should be disregarded for all tax purposes.  However the Department of Education and Skills do continue to deduct tax on a teachers' salary while the teacher is on maternity benefit. It is up to the teacher to reclaim the tax rebate directly from revenue. Teachers should request an MB21 form from the maternity benefit section of the Department of Social and Family Affairs when they have completed their maternity leave. This form will state the amount of DSFA maternity benefit which has been paid directly to the Department of Education and Skills on their behalf. This document along with a P60 for the relevant tax year of the maternity leave should be sent to their local tax office to reclaim a tax rebate in relation to the maternity benefit.

A refund of the relevant PRSI contributions can also be obtained by completing form PRSI REF 1 which is available from the DSFA website at www.welfare.ie. This form has to be stamped at section four by the Department of Education and Skills before been sent to the DSFA to receive the PRSI refund which is due as a result of the payment of maternity benefit.