Help with understanding maternity pay and

[waternfire]

Child care

Am in a job after a long while of not working. I've also found out am pregnant. Am hoping someone can help me out with how maternity works, I understand I can stop
Working from 11 weeks before due date, or I can carry on til couple weeks before due date. My question is when does the 52 weeks of maternity start? Is it as soon as I go on leave or when the baby is born? When should I expect to be back at work?

Second prt of the question is child care, I've never had to deal with cost of child care, so I have no idea how it works. How much does the government help towards the child care cost when both parents are working?

Your maternity leave/pay starts when you choose to go on leave. The more time you take before birth the less time you have afterwards.

Whatever date you stop work will determine when you return. Your employer should give you your latest return date. You can go back earlier if you give 8 weeks notice

Don't know about childcare. Tax free childcare maybe?

Congratulations on your pregnancy.

Your 52 weeks start when you stop working or when the baby is born if born unexpectedly early so the earlier you stop working the less time you have the other side with baby. You can use your annual leave to extend the time you’re off though (before or after) and you still accrue leave whilst you’re off.
How long will you have been working by the time you go off? There’s a limit you need but I can’t remember how many weeks it is.

For childcare once the child turns 3 you can get 30 hours funded by the government. Before then you can claim child benefit as soon as baby is born and once in childcare pay the nursery/childminder through tax free childcare in the government website so you get a 20% top up of your money.

It starts as soon as you stop work.

You need to ask your employer what amount they will give you, or if it is SMP only, if so the money is only for 39 weeks. Not many jobs give money after 39 weeks. So if you stop work at 11 weeks before your due date but need to return after SMP ends, assuming the baby is on time you will return when the baby is 28 weeks old (about 6 months).

Obviously you may have annual leave to take as well.
Much depends on savings, outgoings etc.

Childcare - I am unsure about this as may depend on income. However, funded childcare starts the term after a child is 3, but it does not always provide the hours that a job is, so may have additional costs.

How long have you Been in work?

Maternity leave starts when you want it to (within some time restrictions). You have to tell HR when you want it to start. If you have the baby earlier than expected, it starts from birth. I.e. if you set your mat leave to start 10th June but baby suddenly comes 5th june, mat leave begins 5th June and you have to tell your employer.
You go back to work 52 weeks later. Or sooner if you give your employer notice.

I don’t know what help you can get before the child is 3. Me and DH both work, I qualify for child benefit which is like £21 a week or thereabouts. Nothing else that I know of unless you are unemployed/earning below a certain amount.
My 10 month old is now at nursery and I haven’t heard of any other help I can get, not sure what the 20% top up is that someone mentioned.

You could take annual leave before officially starting maternity leaves.

Really, you need to talk to your employer and see what they offer.

I wanted as much (paid) leave as possible after my baby was born, so I didn’t start my maternity leave until a week after my due date (I had an inkling I’d go overdue), on the basis that you can always take it early if the baby arrived sooner. I took 26 weeks of full pay, 5 weeks of SMP and 8 weeks of annual leave (so back on full pay). There are various ways of working the system depending on how important money and time are to you.

You don’t get a lot of help with childcare until the child is 3.

Look into tax free childcare and see if you will meet time criteria.

@spookysoul I'd look at tax free childcare if I were you. That's the "20% top up". Saves me a small fortune

@spookysoul if both parents work and each person earns less than £100k you sign up for a tax free childcare account on government gateway and pay your childcare via the website. What you pay in is topped up by the government by 20%, up to a maximum government contribution of (I think) £500 per quarter/£2k per annum. It’s a bit of a lifeline for childcare costs before they turn 3.

Oh I had no idea thanks guys

If you're newly in work and don't qualify for SMP you might qualify for maternity allowance.

Yeh spookysoul you can get the tax back through tax free childcare, it's the system that replaced childcare vouchers and is available to the vast majority (only not v high earners)

At my company paid maternity starts if you've been there for atleast 13 weeks.
It says you get 52 weeks of maternity leave, 13 weeks 100% pay, 13 weeks 50% pay, 13 weeks SMP, but that only account for 39 weeks? Is the remainder of the weeks unpaid?

Yes the remainder is unpaid x

Yes. You will still accrue holiday which they may pay you for but I think that depends on their policy not sure.

@waternfire yes after 39 weeks until 52 weeks you don’t get paid.
That’s a really good maternity package by the way.

You don’t have to take 52 weeks if you can’t afford to live on smp or on no pay - you can go back earlier

[quote spookysoul]@waternfire yes after 39 weeks until 52 weeks you don’t get paid.
That’s a really good maternity package by the way.[/quote]
Yes was going to say it sounds like one of the better maternity packages

www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/childcare-vouchers

Looks like it's closed to new applicants for childcare vouchers

Anyway there are links on this government site

So it looks like it's called tax free childcare now

Here is link you want OP

www.gov.uk/get-childcare

That is a great package!

It depends what your household income is (i.e. you may get some form of tax credit or universal credit if on a low income?) but otherwise as far as I'm aware it's just 20% top up on childcare costs if both of you earn under 100k.