Between jobs and found out I'm pregnant

[dancingqueen345]

Hoping someone can give me some reassurance that this will be okay...

I left my job on Friday after working a gruelling 3 month notice, I now have 2 weeks off and then start a new role. I've just found out this morning that I'm pregnant and whilst we were always going to try for a second this year, it literally couldn't have happened in a worse month!!

Is the likelihood that I won't qualify for maternity pay in my new place? Also is there any risk of them just getting rid of me in my probation?!

I want to be excited about it but I'm panicking about the financial implications. I'm the main earner and I really don't know how we'd manage if I didn't get anything.

You should qualify for maternity allowance from the government of £172 per week for 39 weeks if you’ve been working recently. If you started a new job this year then you’d usually need to work six months to a year before conceiving in order to receive occupational maternity pay. So if you were going to try this year then you may not have qualified for occupational pay anyway.

If you’re pregnant whilst job hunting, just apply as you usually would. It’s discrimination for places to not hire you if you’re pregnant. You will be entitled to 12 months off in any new job, it’s just probable that you won’t get any pay from them and will just have to claim £172 per week from the government for 39 weeks. Dismissal for being pregnant is illegal.

If it’s any comfort, lots of places actually don’t pay much more than the government do. The NHS pays 8 weeks full pay, 18 weeks half pay then 13 weeks at government rate then 13 weeks unpaid. I know a university I used to work at paid 6 weeks full pay then 33 weeks at government rate. So even if you’d got a job before conceiving, you may not have been much better off.

@Feliciacat thank you so much for such a detailed reply!

That's a good point about probably needing to be somewhere for 6 months because we definitely wouldn't have wanted to wait that long anyway.

I will look into the maternity allowance, that sounds more generous than I was expecting and might be doable for 6 months x

Oh and congratulations on your pregnancy! It is very exciting! Maybe between maternity allowance and your savings then you can be ok. In my opinion, it’s not worth delaying pregnancy for money. You can always make more money. Good luck!

As long as you've been mostly working, you should qualify for maternity allowance.

Re: your new workplace - they should be good with it, but in your position I'd tactically try to blow them away initially, and get it in writing before letting them know your happy news - for example, if someone praises your work, follow up with a personal email thanking them. You have protection, but don't leave them wiggle room on probation.

I'm on mat leave now having fallen pregnant just after leaving my old job, but it was 100% the right decision!

Btw I did matched betting to top up my income due to only receiving MA, and I've been pretty well off tbh!