On mat leave at the moment and pregnant again

[helpneededplease]

I am on mat leave at the moment and due to return to work in May after 12 mths off. I am pregnant again and due at the beginning of Aug. My employers made my team redundant last year but left me alone because I was on mat leave.
I was thinking about asking for voluntary redundancy but wondered if I would be eligible for SMP? I stop getting SMP for dd2 this month and will not get any pay til May.
Any ideas?

[Earlybird]

no idea, but hopefully one of the HR experts will advise.

How long have you worked for the company?

Do they know you are pregnant again?

[glasgal]

If you are 29 weeks+ by the time you are due to return you can go straight onto your next maternity leave. You will be entitled to SMP, as you are classed as working when on mat leave but the 6 weeks at 90% will be reduced because of your earnings being lower.

[RibenaBerry]

Well, SMP is worked out on your pay between (roughly, it varies slightly depending on pay intervals) weeks 18-25 of pregnancy. I think you'll need to work out your dates, because it looks rather like you might be in the totally unpaid bit of maternity leave during that period, in which case (unfortunately) 90% of nothing is still nothing. Even if this calculation period falls within the time you get SMP, 90% of SMP is also not very much. Sorry!

If they made the rest of your team redundant then what have they said will happen to you when you come back? Are there any other jobs at all in the organisation and do they offer enhanced maternity pay? If the answer to either of those is yes, I'd think seriously about the option of taking a job and going back for those few months to qualify for the enhanced pay again. Otherwise, as you say, you could negotiate a redundancy package. Just as an aside, I doubt that would be voluntary redundancy as such if your whole team has gone (which might be relevant if you want to claim benefits or use mortgage protection insurance).

[helpneededplease]

Thanks everyone.

I have been there 5 years in June and they don't know I'm pregnant again.

I did think aboout taking holidays then mat leave from May 2010 so I didn't have to go back until 2011 but I don't want to miss out on redundancy as I don't intend to go back to work after dc3. My redundancy payment would be worth more than 39 weeks of SMP.

It's all very confusing. I think I will wait until I have to tell them I'm pregnant and see what they say. Was just trying to weigh up my options before I told them. Suppose I wanted the best of both worlds - redundancy payment and SMP!!!