Starting TTC and trying to figure out Maternity Pay.

[SickRose]

So I started a new job a month ago and wanted to see what maternity pay I would be entitled to if I started TTC now I can only access the document on the intranet at work and was worried about someone seeing me looking at it so copy and pasted this quickly. I've tried to figure it out but I keep getting muddled. If for example I was to get pregnant now (4 weeks with the company) would I be entitled?

'This is an enhanced payment made to all staff who qualify for SMP. (You will have been continuously employed by the company for at least 26 weeks by the end of the Qualifying Week ie, the 15th week before the week in which your baby is due).'

TIA!

I would assume the baby is due in week 40, the week before that is week 39. So 15 weeks before that would be week 24.
So by week 24 of your pregnancy you must have been employed by them for 26 weeks.
I.e. You would be eligible if you'd been employed by them for at least 2 weeks when you became pregnant.
Bear in mind however, that pregnancy is dated from the 1st day of your previous period, not from the actual date of conception. So I'd say if you were to conceive today after being employed there for 4 weeks you'd be pretty borderline and it would end up depending on the exact due date you were given.
Might be safer to give it one more month!

If you've already worked for the company for four weeks then you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Your employers policy reflects the statutory minimum, ie 26 weeks service by week 25, or thereabouts. So even if you conceived now you'd qualify.

And even if you didn't you'd be likely to get maternity allowance which is the same, apart from the first six weeks at 90% pay.

Thank you both! I was getting so confused. It mentions Company Maternity Payment, Ordinary Maternity Leave, Additional Maternity Leave, Statutory Maternity Pay. And then it turns them all into acronyms and eugh. So confusing. I think I get it now though.

Right, I've been through all this.
Company maternity payment will be the difference between statutory maternity pay and what ever the company offer (full pay, half pay etc for however many months).
Ordinary maternity leave is the first 6 months
Additional maternity leave is the next 6 months
Statuary maternity pay is what everyone gets assuming they meet the criteria you have written out above, it's 6 weeks at 90% of your pay and then some months (can't remember how many, 6 or so I think) at a fixed (but pretty low) rate - the gov.uk website will tell you exactly how much and how long.
Your companies policy is basically saying that if you qualify for statutory maternity pay you will qualify for their 'enhancement' ie whatever their company maternity pay policy is.

Perfect! Thank you so much! Looks like I made the right choice changing jobs before starting to try. My new companies policy is** much better than my last. That's one less thing to worry about