Maternity leave & handing in notice

[walkingbaby]

I posted this in parenting but didn't get a response so thought I'd try my luck here.

Long story short but I currently have a 10 month old and am expecting my second baby next month.

I work for a huge Logistics company and have made the decision to leave for 2 reasons. 1) my office is based in Kent and I now live in London. I don't earn nowhere near enough to commute full time let alone commute full time and put two babies into nursery full time (I also don't want to do that.)
2) for some reason you can only work full time in my role. You're not able to work part time no matter what your circumstances are.
I'd like to work part time and have something much more local to me too.

I also didn't qualify for SMP this time round. I am able to apply for maternity allowance but because of the way DWP look at maternity allowance, so much of my standard UC amount will get deducted that I wouldn't even be able to pay my rent. So it's in my best interests not to apply for it.

I had planned to take the whole year maternity leave and then give my notice in but that doesn't make much sense does it? Does it make sense to hand my notice in now? Especially so they can offer the person that's covering me a permanent position with the company. I was also concerned how leaving my job would effect my UC however I've done some research and it seems that in line with work related requirements, you're not expected to look work if you have a child under 1 years old so there wouldn't be any sanctions in my case.

I just wondered if anyone had been in a similar situation? Or what would you do, would you just hand in your notice now and then update your circumstances to say that you're no longer working?

In that circumstance, I'd advise resigning with effect from 11 months 3 weeks from you starting maternity leave so you accrue the annual leave in the interim which will be just shy of a year. This won't then impact the uc rules either.

@Faevern

Did they not give you a written statement of your maternity leave entitlement and pay dates?

@Faevern nope! I even had to chase HR up just to get them to confirm that they received all my emails and continuously ask them to confirm SMP etc. Nothing written out clearly and precisely like it says in their policy.

Also thanks for the link. I'll check that out

Thanks for the comments all. Looks like it could be in my best interest to stay just to get the annual leave payment🤷‍♀️

There are some benefits to applying for MA. Firstly it is paid fortnightly so may help budgeting. Secondly it is non means tested so if your situation were to change in the near future for example you met a new partner who earned too much to claim UC, then you would still get the maternity allowance.

@Babyroobs there's no benefits to it in my personal situation but thank you

Based on your dates your employer is wrong and hopefully maternity action can help with that. So long as you gave proper notice and claimed SMP on time.

Also once your SMP ended why did you not go on to annual leave and be paid?

Has your employer given you the SMP1 to say you do not qualify for SMP?

If you cannot challenge this direct with your employer you need to claim MA not because you will gain financially but because the JC+ will have to challenge as they cannot pay MA if your employer is liable to pay SMP.

Don't delay though as it is a long process and the backdate really messes with your UC and the work allowance. Hopefully you can challenge your employer successfully. Stay employed, get the annual leave at the end of this maternity leave too.

@Faevern I've used the calculator on gov.uk twice and I'm sure you're right, that their calculations are somehow wrong. I think the problem is that they paid me a month short of SMP which has messed with the qualifying period for this pregnancy.

When SMP ended I was able to go on maternity leave for my second pregnancy so just did that. HR said I can carry over any leave until the second maternity leave finishes.

They've given me the SMP1 form but I won't be applying for MA. The amount of MA that I'm entitled to will be deducted from my UC pound by pound. It'll literally leave me worse off there's no point in doing that.

For example, my rent is 1180. I get the full amount for that. I then get the amount for having a child and being a single parent. The total of that amount is 1670. If I apply for MA which is something like 600 a month. It'll get deducted from my universal credit pound for pound leaving me with 1070. I literally couldn't even pay my rent with that let alone pay rent, bills and money to survive with two kids. Whereas when I got SMP, even though that was seen as earnings, most of that was given in addition to the UC, not deducted the way MA will be.

Thanks for your help, I'll be contacting Maternity Action today to run everything through them and see what they say. I'll stay employed too!

You won't be worse off you will get the same money whether you claim MA or not so the UC added to MA is the same as UC without MA.

When you get SMP you get the work allowance on UC so it makes you so much better off. So yes I see why you would not claim MA.

However you need to claim SMP and if you can't challenge your employer and don't receive it JC+ will ask HMRC to make the employer pay BUT you have to claim MA to make them do that. It would be worth it if it meant you got the SMP.

Going straight on to mat leave rather than annual leave has probably complicated it as there will be a gap there. Hopefully you get help to sort it out with your employer without doing any of that.

@Faevern it all sounds like more hassle than it's worth tbh. I'll still call Maternity Action and run it past them to see what they say. I'll mention the UC and MA too but my case worker on UC has already confirmed MA will leave me worse off because of the pound by pound deduction. I'll see what happens

[quote walkingbaby]@Faevern it all sounds like more hassle than it's worth tbh. I'll still call Maternity Action and run it past them to see what they say. I'll mention the UC and MA too but my case worker on UC has already confirmed MA will leave me worse off because of the pound by pound deduction. I'll see what happens

[/quote]
It wont leave you worse off, it will leave you with exactly the same amount either way. But the benefits of claiming MA are as I explained above. Either you don't claim MA and get the full Uc or you claim MA and get that paid separately fortnightly but deducted from your UC.

How can it be more hassle than it's worth to be £500 a month better off on SMP? More when they apply the benefit cap when you have your second child and no earnings. The benefit cap is currently maximum £23k. You need some proper advice. Good luck.

@Babyroobs @Faevern oh right I think I've misunderstood MA and it's literally just clicked now lol.

So if I receive 1670 UC and 600 MA will be deducted from UC pound for pound. I'd get 1070 UC. But then I'd still receive that 600 MA anyway so I'll still have 1670. I don't know where I thought the 600 MA was going🤦‍♀️ so I'd be on the same amount I'd just receive it in two different ways.

Either you don't claim MA and get the full Uc

Yeah that's the thing I think I rather just get the full UC as it comes two days before my rent's due so don't need to worry about any date mess ups.

I'll definitely be contacting Maternity Action to double check everything was done right during my first maternity leave anyway

Yes you would. BUT you don't get the work allowance which is why you need SMP. Otherwise you will be seriously worse off and also have your benefit capped so won't get your full rent.

[quote walkingbaby]**@Babyroobs* @Faevern* oh right I think I've misunderstood MA and it's literally just clicked now lol.

So if I receive 1670 UC and 600 MA will be deducted from UC pound for pound. I'd get 1070 UC. But then I'd still receive that 600 MA anyway so I'll still have 1670. I don't know where I thought the 600 MA was going🤦‍♀️ so I'd be on the same amount I'd just receive it in two different ways. [/quote]
Yes correct ! You may think it's not worth the hassle, it's up to you. I think it's just that the MA is non means tested so like I said before if you did suddenly move a new partner in or inherit money or something which meant you were no longer eligible for Uc, you could still claim the MA. I guess if you know that's unlikely in the near future then theres probably not much point in claiming MA.

@Faevern

Yes you would. BUT you don't get the work allowance which is why you need SMP. Otherwise you will be seriously worse off and also have your benefit capped so won't get your full rent.

@Faevern yes yes I get it now! Thanks for bearing with me😂 SMP is a HUGE help on top oc UC already so I'll try my best to get this sorted with advice from maternity action

@Babyroobs sorry yes I did see your comment before even tho I didn't reply to you. No that definitely won't be the case for me so I may stick with UC. Will obviously seek advice to see what works in my best interest but hopefully I can confirm whether I'm entitled to SMP this time round. I'm 99% sure that I am but HR are just something else. Won't even reply to emails let alone explain their working out

@walkingbaby

Thanks for the comments all. Looks like it could be in my best interest to stay just to get the annual leave payment🤷‍♀️

And the longer service that you'll put onto your cv! 😜