Member to choose start date of maternity absence
6.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3) and regulation 5, a member may choose the date on which their maternity absence is to start.
(2) Where, during the four week period before the start of the expected week of childbirth, a member is absent from a meeting of the authority for a reason wholly or partly attributable to pregnancy, the period of maternity absence starts on the day after the meeting from which the member is absent.
(3) Where a member’s maternity absence has not started in accordance with the date notified by a member under regulation 3(a)(iii) when childbirth occurs, that member’s maternity absence starts on the day after the day on which childbirth occurs.
(4) Regulations 3(a)(ii), (iii) and (b) do not apply in respect of a member whose absence starts by virtue of paragraph (3).