Confusing mat pay eligibility - anyone understand the weeks?!

[matpayconfusion]

I started a new job in January partly because it advertised enhanced maternity pay. When I look at the policy it says: 'staff with at least one year's continuous service at the start of the 11th week before the week the baby is due are eligible for the enhanced pay'.

The enhanced pay isn't very good at all, but we will need it so that aside, I'm struggling to work out when I might become eligible and so when I might get pg.

I think I've more or less worked out that I need to have been working here for at least 6 full months before getting pregnant. And I may be a bit screwed if my due date gets adjusted earlier at my 13w scan.

Anyone whizzy with maths/the way they phrase things and can work it out for me? Would you just leave it a bit longer to be on the safe side? Or is getting adjusted earlier unlikely? My cycle is 26 days.

Sounds like you need to have worked a year by the 29th week of pregnancy. So 52-29=23 - i.e. you need to have worked 23 weeks before getting pregnant? So leave it 6-7 months from your start date in Jan to be on the safe side? I'd def err on the side of caution though in case they try and screw you over.

You need to be less than 29 weeks pregnant by the time you hit 1 year of employment, can't work out any exact dates until you have your dating scan and you know when you'd be 40 weeks pregnant.

Thanks both, that's really helpful. So I'll have to work out whether I want to chance it in July or wait til August. Doesn't seem like much difference but at 39 I'm not getting any younger!

if you started on 1st Jan 2021 23 weeks before 1st Jan 2022 is about 21st July I would definitely leave it until august / september

I can't find this out (can't ask) but I wonder what happens if the baby comes early, you just stop being eligible?

It's so annoying that employers aren't up front about this stuff. We don't have a staff handbook, it wasn't in the staff benefits info they provided at offer (and I could hardly go back and ask specifically about the mat pay policy) and if I'd have known it was this stingy I think I might've kept job hunting

@matpayconfusion

I can't find this out (can't ask) but I wonder what happens if the baby comes early, you just stop being eligible?

It's so annoying that employers aren't up front about this stuff. We don't have a staff handbook, it wasn't in the staff benefits info they provided at offer (and I could hardly go back and ask specifically about the mat pay policy) and if I'd have known it was this stingy I think I might've kept job hunting

If the baby is early you’re still eligible. It’s done on the date the midwife puts on the MAT B1 form.

A friend of mine was danger close on the dates and the midwife kindly put her due date a day later so she would get the enhanced pay!

@matpayconfusion

I can't find this out (can't ask) but I wonder what happens if the baby comes early, you just stop being eligible?

It's so annoying that employers aren't up front about this stuff. We don't have a staff handbook, it wasn't in the staff benefits info they provided at offer (and I could hardly go back and ask specifically about the mat pay policy) and if I'd have known it was this stingy I think I might've kept job hunting

No, if baby comes early you are still eligible because it is calculated from baby's due date, not baby's birthdate.

Ah thanks all that's really helpful. I wondered how it would be manageable. I know I'll be having a C so will probably only go to 39 weeks although I won't tell them that. With cycle dates should be on the safe side to try in July and I might fudge my LMP dates by a couple of days if I come on earlier. I read that unless the dating scan changes things by more than a week they're unlikely to change your EDD and by LMP I should be at least two weeks past the cut-off for the extra pay so it's surely unlikely to change by a fortnight!

We've had to wait over a year longer than we would have preferred due to my job security being derailed by Covid but hopefully it'll be right timing etc everything happens for a reason

Thanks for all your help!