I'm kind of shocked. I only discovered I was pg at the weekend with baby number 3. I have 2 DDs aged 6 and 8 so havent been on maternity leave for a while. I only had 4 months and 6 months with both of them.
The policy has since changed in the way that they pay you your maternity pay( I work for the NHS ) and I have just calculated I can have 52 weeks of at £1250 a month !!!! You are allowed to spread your payments about over the whole entitlement if you want.
That seems like such a lot ??
Im just surprised. I never knew I could do it like that ! I never dreamed I would be able to take the full 12 months off but I reckon I could live on that.
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I just checked the maternity leave policy at work....that cant be right ! Pleasantly surprised !
46 replies
inbetweener · 06/10/2010 11:17
OP posts:
inbetweener ·
06/10/2010 11:25
I'm sorry I realsie that may have come across as boasting. Im really not 
I work for the NHS in South London.
basically they now give you the option to have your maternity pay in four ways.
1: 8 weeks full pay and 18 weeks half pay
2: 34 weeks half pay
3: 17 weeks full pay
4: cash value of option 1 pain in 52 equal installments.
So if Ive done my maths right, then option 4 is the better deal in terms of knowing what your money is every month ?
OP posts:
PrivetDancer ·
06/10/2010 11:57
Surely all the options are the same value though? just paid out slightly differently. (creating extra admin costs, no doubt 
:))
So it doesn't really matter which you pick.
DancingThroughLife ·
06/10/2010 11:57
Foghorn, you can get statutory for 9 months, but it's first 6 weeks at 90% and then the following time at £123 a week.
You were right, but the figures slightly changed (probably a timing thing)
Am still 
at company schemes though
lucielooo ·
06/10/2010 12:00
Think I get the same as you Foghorn Leghorn - which is fairly reasonable. I'm hoping that I'll be able to put a bit aside when I'm on full pay (won't be paying £100's for commuting/parking etc) that will help once the pay stops. Though apparently babies are expensive! 
FoghornLeghorn ·
06/10/2010 12:02
Lucieloo - do you know what ... I don't think babies themselves are expensive - buying all the equipment you need if it's your first child can be but babies themselves aren't overly expensive.
When they get to 6,4 and 2 like mine .. well thats another story altogether
buttonmoon78 ·
06/10/2010 12:03
Ahh. I get it now. Yes, you are all lucky. Working in the public sector is undoubtedly better in situations like these. The rest of us are often
Now I'm going to pop off elsewhere before I get myself into trouble.
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louisesh ·
06/10/2010 13:24
INBETWEENER i too work for the nhs.i m recieving 8 weeks full pay,18 weeks half pay with smp.I m returning to work at 6 months as can t afford to stay off .SMP alone won t cover our mortgage.Both me and my DH work full time but he earns a lot less than me soo back to work in March.
Yes, the NHS offers a good mat scheme.What annoys me is that , although, i m returning to work before the end of the 39 weeks of SMP i will loose out on the remaining21 weeks of SMP.Just as i m returning to work and having to pay out an extra £600 per month for nursery fees!!!!!!!!!!
buttonmoon78 ·
06/10/2010 14:20
Of course you will lose out! SMP is there to pay you when you are not working following the birth of your child. It's not there as a bonus.
^
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