I work part-time - Will I get full maternity pay??

[nauseous]

I work 24 hours/week PT and have done for almost a year for a small company. I'm 7 weeks pg. I know we only get 5 days paid sick per year, and am worried that this sort of sick policy might mean they can get away without paying maternity leave?

[DrNortherner]

You get 90% of your pay I think, regardless of full/part time

[LIZS]

There is a qualifying minimum pay/hours for SMP iirc

"To get SMP you must have been:

Employed by your employer into the qualifying week which is the 15th week before the week your baby is due.
Employed by the same employer without a break for at least 26 weeks into the 15th week before the week your baby is due. Part weeks count as full weeks.
Earning before tax an average of £87.00 a week. This is called the Lower Earnings Limit for National Insurance Contributions (NI) and is the amount you have to earn to qualify for benefits. You have to earn more than this amount before you actually start paying NI. "

[flowerybeanbag]

nauseous have a look at this easy-to-read link all about maternity pay, how you qualify and how it's worked out. Your hours are irrelevant.

Why are you concerned that your company's sick policy might affect your maternity pay?

[nauseous]

Thanks flowerybeanbag, and you others. I'll look at that link. Its just that they're a bit tight financially, and as before I joined I'd never heard of only having 5 days paid sick per year... I was concerned they may also have some maternity get out clause for being a smallish company (ie about 10 people)... probably just being paranoid!

[flowerybeanbag]

No, the days of small companies having get-outs for all sorts of employment legislation are fortunately over!

[Catilla]

Statutory maternity pay is all funded by the government so the company doesn't lose out. If they offer you more than statutory then they have to pay it themselves.

Are they so small they've never had to do maternity before, and therefore may not have thought it through enough to have a policy?

(PS I'm sure sick pay is similar - there is a statutory level which they have to do but can reclaim - but it's probably not full pay and not for very long)

Good luck - hope you don't have to fight for it!

[mamamufin]

you guys seem very knowledgeable so I hope you dont mind asking you a question. I am a nurse in the NHS and am 10 weeks pregnant. The link about maternity pay says that you are still entitled to smp even if you dont return to work. I really dont want to go back after I ve had the baby. Does this mean I will be entitiled to the same amount of money after I have had the baby if I do or dont go back. I am a bit confused. Thanks

[StealthPolarBear]

i work for nhs and under afc you get more than SMP for 6 months. If you don't return for 3 months at the end of your ML you need to pay back anything over SMP they've paid you. You'll get SMP anyway, for 9 months, even if you don't go back.

[mamamufin]

Thanks stealthpolarbear. Is it alot more than SMP that you get for 6 months. How will I know the amount to decide wheter its worth it?

[StealthPolarBear]

I am fairly sure this is standard under AfC
Mine was 100% for 8 weeks
then 50% plus SMP for 18 weeks
then SMP only for 12 weeks
Do you have policies and procedures available?

[mamamufin]

Thank you SteathpolarBear that is very helpful. I will do the maths. I havent anything available yet as its still a "secret". I just wanted a rough idea of what I was entitled to. Thanks

[StealthPolarBear]

Congratulations by the way, was very rude of me not to say so before!
Have you signed up to AfC? Even if not I doubt the policies can be wildly different.

[mamamufin]

Yes I am signed up for Afc so I am sure the policy would be similar if not the same. Thanks for your help.

[NorthernLurker]

I'm NHS too - and got what SPB has outlined - you accrue annual leave throughout and have to add that one the end of your maternity leave - but that time also counts as part of the twelve weeks you have to go back for - so if you went on ml 31st December 2008 (for example) you would be paid for 39 weeks - so till September roughly - then you have three months unpaid and are due back at work 01/01/10 but you then take your annual leave - say 5 weeks (which you've accrued from the last quarter of 08/09 and the first 3 quarters of 09/10)and so would actually be due back at work second week in Feb 2010 roughly. If you then can't stand it you would only have to work till end of Feb/beginning of March before handing in your notice and leaving at the end of March

[StealthPolarBear]

ooh NL do you know this?
If I leave on FT and then go back PT am I on FT maternity leave iyswim? I hopwe so cos I can't afford anything else in terms of pay and hols!

[flowerybeanbag]

SPB if you are going back pt presumably you will have requested that your hours change with effect from whatever your return date will be, in which case until then you are ft with the appropriate pay/t&cs.

[StealthPolarBear]

thanks fbb, of course that makes sense. I just wondered, as it seems you could work FT and then cut your hours right down but still receive full maternity pay.

[NorthernLurker]

fbb is absolutely right - your maternity pay is based on what you have worked not on what you will work. The using up annual leave bit - our trust requires that you use it up in the same way as you accrued it - so my entitlement is 5.8 weeks at 34.5 hrs a week - I can't use that total number of hours in say - 25 hour weeks if that was what I was going back to.

[mamamufin]

Thanks guys, you have made me grin . Its alot better than I ever imagined. x

[nauseous]

Catilla I dodn't realise SMP was funded by the government, that's good, I won't feel quite so guilty! I'm dreading telling them a it is. My boss keeps making all these future plans, (wince!) I keep thinking god, in all likelihood |I won't be here then!. Plus, I'm not even 100% certain I want to go back afterwards as it is... eek