Keeping In Touch (KIT) Days: A complete guide for UK employers

Keeping in touch days (KIT days) are a statutory arrangement in the UK aimed at helping employees on maternity or adoption leave stay connected with their workplace without ending their leave or losing their statutory pay. While legally defined as an optional tool for business continuity and professional transition, KIT days are essential if you want to be a supportive employer.

Anyone who has done it knows that taking parental leave is no holiday. It’s more like an abrupt, aggressive corporate pivot with an incredibly unreasonable and irrational new boss, insane hours and often, another completely inept team member (and just one, when this is surely a job for at least 6??) who insists on ‘doing it my own way’ (ie definitely the wrong way). And then just as you get the hang of it, you’ve got to ‘jump on a call’ (the only jumping going on recently has been when ‘hop little bunnies’ comes on for the 465th time) about returning to your ‘real job’. How rude.

The name is pretty self-explanatory. KIT days are for keeping in touch with your employer while on an extended period of leave to have or adopt a child. This is a statutory mechanism in the UK that allows employees on maternity or adoption leave to step back into the workplace temporarily without bringing their family leave to an end.

But why? Aren’t they on leave? No one wants their boss ‘keeping in touch’ with them when they’re trying to make the most of their all-inclusive and they certainly don’t want to work the odd day just to see how it’s going without them.

Say it louder for the people at the back – parental leave is not a holiday!

Are keeping in touch days mandatory?

Absolutely not! KIT days are totally voluntary. They must be mutually agreed by the employer and employee; neither party can insist upon them. Think of it as a casual ‘open-door policy’ (cute) rather than a mandate from the manager (v stressful).

• Employers cannot force an employee to work a KIT day. Requesting or pressuring an employee to work during protected leave can open an organisation up to a discrimination claim.
• Employees cannot demand to work a KIT day if the business does not have a suitable operational or training need for them on that day.

So what are Keeping In Touch days for?

The main purpose of  KIT days is to allow individuals to stay connected with their team, keep up to speed with any changes and, crucially, maintain their professional confidence and identity.

On how many keeping in touch days are permitted, the law is clear:

• Maternity and Adoption Leave: An employee can work up to 10 KIT days during their leave period.
• Shared Parental Leave: If a mother opts for Shared Parental Leave (SPL), they have access to a different arrangement called SPLIT days (Shared Parental Leave In Touch), which allows for up to 20 days per parent. This is on top of KIT days.

What happens if the limit is exceeded?

The 10-day limit is strict. If an employee works an 11th day, their statutory family leave period legally ends by default, and they are considered to have officially returned to their day job. As such, tracking these days accurately is vital for compliance.

A common misconception is that keeping in touch days on maternity leave must involve an employee sitting at their old desk clearing a clogged inbox for eight hours. In reality, KIT days are incredibly flexible and do not need to involve a full day of normal work duties, or even a trip to the office at all.

Since the employer is the one who actually knows what’s going on in the business, and the employee has been busy managing their tiny and highly irrational new line manager at home, you should try to provide a list of meaningful options that won’t feel like pointless ‘busywork’.

Good ideas include:

Try to take the burden off the employee

Your employee likely won’t have the mental bandwidth to pitch KIT day ideas to you, so the employer should take the initiative here. Instead of waiting for them to ask, a manager should reach out via email to offer a specific but low-pressure invitation: 

“We have our annual team strategy day on Tuesday next week. We’ve designed a half-day itinerary that would be perfect for a KIT day to get you up to speed on our goals – no pressure at all if your hands are full at home right now or you’re not ready, but the option is there and we’d love to see you.”

One of the most commonly asked questions in HR is ‘do you get paid for keeping in touch days?’, but there actually isn’t a straight answer. UK law does not specify a mandatory, minimum or maximum wage rate for KIT days, and it doesn’t impact statutory maternity pay (SMP). All it says on this matter is that payment arrangements should be agreed between the employee and the employer in advance.

Common payment approaches

To maintain goodwill and support an employee who already facing the harsh financial reality of a new child and (especially if they’re coming to the end of their leave and are on statutory or no pay), KIT days are usually paid. Employers generally use one of the following methods:

• Full day’s pay: Paying the employee their normal daily contractual rate for the work done.
• A ‘top-up’: If the employee is currently receiving SMP, the employer tops up the SMP amount to match their full daily wage for that specific day.

Important note on partial days: If an employee comes in for a 2-hour team meeting, this counts as one full KIT day and comes off their allowance of 10. You can choose to pay them only for the 2 hours worked, if agreed in advance.

While managing a pretty intense transition at home, a second layer of corporate anxiety can set in for an employee on parental leave. The modern workplace moves fast. While your employee has been mastering the logistics of nappy changing schedules and domestic crisis management, your company might have rolled out new software or restructured teams. This will all be as new to them as sterilising was on day one of parenting.

When parents return to the office, they don’t leave their domestic duties and responsibilities behind – they are basically now working two full-time jobs. Their stress levels at home have permanently scaled up, and employers need to be cognisant of that. 

This is where keeping in touch days in maternity or adoption leave setups become invaluable. Far from just an HR box to tick, KIT days are a low-stress bridge back to work – and sometimes, having that easy crossing is what makes or breaks the decision to return at all. 

They also have some specific benefits for both employees and employers:

Benefits for employees

• Helps alleviate anxiety and imposter syndrome. 
• Stops employees from feeling isolated and detached from professional life.
• They can test out childcare logistics, the morning routine and the commute without the pressure of a full working week.

Benefits for employers

• Improved retention – employees who feel supported during a massive life transition are far more likely to return to their role and to stick around long term.
• Better workforce planning – it gives managers a clearer picture of when and how an employee intends to return, allowing for smoother handovers from temp cover.
• Easier reintegration: The employee returns fully trained and up to date, so they’re not immediately overwhelmed by a mountain of admin to catch up on.

1. Discuss KIT days before leave begins – explain how they work, chat about whether they want to use them and ask whether they’d prefer you to flag key dates and events they might like to attend or be left alone to reach out when they feel ready.
2. Confirm all details in writing in advance – including dates and hours, logistics, pay and any objectives. Do it all in one go to avoid bombarding them when they’re on leave.
3. Don’t leave it up to the employee – don’t assume they’ll ask for KIT days or sort their own agenda, they’ve got a lot on their plate.
4. Be flexible and empathetic – their ‘job’ at home is unpredictable. Sickness, sleepless nights or teething can ruin the best-laid plans. If they need to cancel a KIT day at the last minute, respond with grace and zero judgement.

Instead of scattering KIT days randomly throughout the leave period, it’s good to bundle the majority of them towards the end of the leave period to form a phased, structured return-to-work plan.

Imagine an employee who is taking 11 months’ maternity leave and wants to work 5 KIT days. The return strategy might look like this:

[Month 10: 2 KIT Days] ➔ Attend a core strategy meeting & complete mandatory compliance training.

[Month 11: 3 KIT Days] ➔ Conduct handover sessions with maternity cover & map out a phased return schedule. Casual lunch with the team.

[Month 12: Official Return] ➔ Employee returns confident, fully trained and up-to-date.

How leave management software can help

Manually tracking KIT days across an organisation using fragmented spreadsheets is a recipe for disaster. If an employee accidentally works an 11th day, this has ramifications for their parental leave and pay, and is a pain for HR, so an email trail alone won’t cut it.

Modern leave management software streamlines processing of KIT days by:

• Automatically capping KIT days at 10 so the limit can’t be breached.
• Storing agreed payment rates and agendas directly alongside the employee’s leave profile as a digital audit trail.
• Giving team leaders visibility over return-to-work timelines so they can plan handovers and resource allocation.
• Keeping a clean, digitised record of leave types, KIT days and return dates means managers can focus on supporting the person.