3 months pregnant and just been made redundant - no clue what to do!

[TwittleBee]

I was greeted by my Director and HR manager this morning with the news that I am being made redundant. Brexit was their reason behind this along with I'm the last in so first out.

Anyway, I'm 3 months pregnant (They didn't know this btw) and so have no bloomin clue what to do next...

Our finances are so tight, we have a stupidly high mortgage and I'm the bread winner! I've done the maths and with everything striped back we will be £350 short a month. We won't be entitled to any support too (Halifax suggest we looked on entitledto website already) as DH earns £24k.

I've already asked Halifax if we could have a temporary break or just pay interest only but we don't qualify.

If I do apply for another job surely the new employer will be seriously annoyed that I am going to be leaving start of September? (Possibly sooner as DS was born early). Also how does mat leave and pay even work out?

I know £24k seems like a lot and I know many people manage to survive on that but we stupidly crippled ourselves with a mortgage of £1300 a month and have no savings. Again, I feel stupid now for us having another baby but there was no sign of job insecurity.

Just posting on here for advice, help or any sort of way out of this. Feel like I'm in a very dark hole right now and can't stop being physically sick with fear.

Are you the only one in your role?

From what you say it seems like they haven't followed due process. Were you put 'at risk of redundancy' and given a consultation period?

I worked with a temp who found out she was preganant and then made redundant. She was temping at different places through her pregnancy and was offered a permanent job (at my place) for after the baby arrived.

It doesn’t solve the due diligence issue mentioned above but could help with the shit your in now.

OneForTheRoadThen yes only one in my role, it was a split role so had 2 sets of responsibilities. No at risk or consultation period but I was on probation so they didn't even have to give me 2 months pay and redundancy; they could have let me go with only 1 weeks notice they said?

I've applied for a temp job today actually SaveKevin but think I'll have to look at other job sectors as couldn't find anything else temp in my sector

Start looking for a job and share maternity leave with dh or he takes majority of leave if you are earning more

Please seek proper advice or pop over to the employment section and ask the likes of Daisy or Purple. A lot of the information given her is inaccurate. You may have a case. You may not but it's impossible to tell from the details you have put here.

Sorry to hear this has happened to you @TwittleBee We run a small business and when we had to make people redundant a few years ago we had to discuss with them the reasons why we were considering redundancy and that they were ping to be 'at risk'. Once the 'at risk' period was up we met again to see if they would accept reduced hours etc. They aren't allowed to meet with you once and just make you redundant. Is this what they did? Please check online for information to see if they followed a process because they are supposed to. There is information on Citizens Advice if that helps

Fixed term contracts are your friend here. Either agencies or places like universities. Universities are good due to project/research funds and durations being fixed. Quite a variety of roles/skill sets needed from admin to financial management support roles, not just academic. Start dates tend to be pretty swift and it’s generally a flexible environment to work in. Good luck!

I was in a similar situation, the good news (!) If any is that you will still be early enough along to be able to go to interviews without looking pregnant especially if you keep suit jacket on. I chose to go for temp work with a timeframe that finished before my due date but if I had my time again I would also apply for perm roles. I kept all my payslips and claimed maternity allowance. Good luck

If you’ve paid enough national insurance stamps you should at least be able to claim new style JSA www.gov.uk/how-to-claim-new-style-jsa

ACAS can give advice regarding whether extending your probation was discriminatory and any options regarding redundancy.

@TwittleBee yes they could have just let you go but they didn't - they chose to make you redundant and in doing so (no doubt they thought they were doing you a favour ) they haven't followed due process and have left themselves wide open to a claim.

As they haven't followed process you can make a claim against them and I don't doubt you'd win. You also probably have a claim for sex discrimination but this is much harder to prove.

If you feel up to it I'd put in a claim x

OP are you sure you don't qualify for anything? We have 2 DCs, our rent is 673 a month and DH earns £35,850. We qualify for universal credit. Entitled to says we don't, but universal credit says we do. I'd look into it if I were you.

But they were trying to help me and they do honestly come across as a lovely company. I loved working there OneForTheRoadThen so id feel so bad! X

Ah thats interesting Myusernameismud ! I'll have another look

This happened to me a few years ago. I'd recommend concentrating your efforts on other ways to generate an income, rather than trying to fight a claim. It's exhausting and even if they haven't followed due process, you won't be entitled to much unless you've been there for several years.

Can you start a p/t business? Temp? Find a fixed term contract or a casual role? £350/month isn't that much to make up - I'm sure you can do it. Later on, perhaps take up shared maternity leave?

Also, if you can opt for payment in lieu of notice (i.e. 2 month's pay, but you leave straight away) then you have 2 month's buffer to work out a plan/apply for other things without being completely worn out.

Congratulations on the pregnancy. You will be OK, I promise. In my case, it worked out to be exactly what I needed, even though I didn't know it at the time.

I understand @TwittleBee it would be exhausting and wouldn't guarantee anything. Good luck with whatever you do xx

Thank you all.

I know £350 doesn't sound like much but if I was to find work it would then have to cover nursery fees and petrol (assuming I can't walk there) so i would need £1100 a month wage.

Would your house be rentable? Rent that out and move into a smaller property in the short term perhaps?

It’s like Mumsnet bingo.

• Sell your house bad idea
• Find a lodger bad idea
• Rent your house out bad idea.

Op won’t be better off for doing this when factoring is removal costs and tax on the income from the property. What happens if the tenants don’t pay or trash the house?

@TwittleBee just so you know you'd be entitled to MA whatever you do! X

Just a bit of a handhold and some reassurance OP. I was made redundant at 20 weeks pregnant (they knew but had made damn sure they'd manipulated the situation so well) I thought my life and career was over. I thought I didn't have the strength to fight and sunk down deep and defeated.

For the rest of that pregnancy I temped in a job way below my skill set and pay grade - minimum wage actually - in a different industry to tide me over to get some ready cash and saved like hell - I mean every single penny. We got through it. It was a rough couple of years I won't lie, and not much fun. No car, strictly budgeted food, no social life etc etc.

It's now 6 years later. I'm back in my industry and earning about £20k more than when I was made redundant. I never could have imagined that outcome at that time, I spent about 6 months crying.

About a year ago my old company headhunted me and made me an amazing offer to return. I had one of the best moments of my life gleefully telling them to fuck off, that I would never work for a company that thought so little of their staff at their most vulnerable.

Oh MissingDietCoke thank you for sharing your experience with me. It certainly makes me feel a lot better! Maybe actually temping in a different sector might actually give me a different opportunity.

We did have savings but unfortunately I was in multiple car accidents (neither my fault) and so we had to get a new car, cover costs etc of hospital and physio and medication.

I'll probably get roasted for it, but would you consider pursuing a personal injury claim for either of these accidents? You might not under normal circumstances but if those accidents cost you £££ which is now desperately needed, it might not be a bad idea looking into it. You've had a shitty hand dealt to you, I'm sorry.

We are claiming TheCraicDealer as 1st crash might have caused the MC as baby died the day of the crash plus the couple in the other car were complete arseholes, they were very aggressive and intimidating. Honestly think I would have been punched if this other couple didn't step in! And the 2nd one I'm going through with a claim as it has ruined my back and neck, having physio for it but it's barely helped. But yeah, these claims take ages... plus I might not get much at all! I'll be accepting the 1st offers too as I don't want it to go to court!

Keep trying to not think the universe is against me right now but it's hard! We've had a real string of bad luck lately.

Awww you've been through a lot. I honestly wouldn't waste energy on any legal or employment avenues with your current employer. With only nine months service you could have been let go with just your contracted notice so ask to exit immediately, grab the two months redundancy (tax free!) - I think it sounds like they have tried to be kind to you. Then hit the agencies. Don't disclose your pregnancy and don't feel bad. Good luck

Have you signed up with some agencies. You may be able to get some short term contract work.