Question about maternity allowance and potential employers... Should I tell potential employers about my pregnancy?

[NooNooHead1981]

I'm currently 6w2d and have been looking for work since August.

I have had an excellent career as an editor/freelance copywriter, but my contract was terminated in August, and I've been applying for jobs with no success since then.

I just applied for a job at a local McDonald's and am happy to do any work at all if it means I will qualify for maternity allowance next year. As I finished my contract in August, from what I can figure out, my due date is June 24th next year and I will have just worked 24 weeks out of the 66 (or whatever it is) before the baby arrives, which means I need to get another job asap for a) money obviously and b) to qualify for maternity allowance... I believe you have to have worked for 26 weeks out of the 66 before the baby is due to qualify.

Anyway, my question is, should I tell potential employers that I am pregnant yet? Or wait until I've had my 12 week scan and have been employed for a bit?

I also had a head injury a couple of years ago, and was left with a drug-induced movement disorder that includes having facial tics etc, so I'm hoping this won't impact too much on my employment prospects.

I am very happy in lots of ways to be pregnant again, but absolutely worried sick about the prospect of not getting work soon enough because of my movement disorder, pregnancy etc, and then not qualifying for maternity allowance as a result...

[mindutopia]

I wouldn't tell them about your pregnancy. They are very likely to not hire you or to find ways to limit your hours, push you out, even though that's not technically legal. I've claimed maternity allowance twice now (well, will be for the 2nd time shortly).

Honestly, if you have the option, I would pursue freelance work as a self-employed person rather than see out work. I was completely self-employed with my first time on mat allowance and it's much much easier and less of a hassle than trying to claim it as employed. You need to be registered as self-employed and paying NI, but there is less pressure on you to earn a certain amount, which isn't the case with claiming it as an employed person. You only need a few more weeks to qualify as it is. Obviously, that is contingent on you being able to drum up business, but I've done freelance proofreading and copyediting in the past myself and I found it was pretty easy to find work, even if it didn't always pay as much as I'd hoped. It was much less stressful than trying to find someone to hire me when I was obviously pregnant. Also, it's so much easier to do than to be standing at a till at McDonald's all day when you will be exhausted and needing to be off your feet in about 4 months time.