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Original poster

So angry! How unfair is this !!!

197 replies

SilverFox90 · 27/04/2020 17:19

So I went on maternity in March and only receive statutory maternity pay, so £600pm.
Now the government have decided that anyone who went on maternity on or after 25th April can be furloughed and receive 80% of their normal wage !

How is that fair. I’m here struggling and others will be receiving 80% of their normal pay ! 😡

Anyone else in the same position or think that this is wrong ?
Okay, good for those who are lucky enough to be receiving it but why give one without the other.

OP posts:
Bringringbring12 · 27/04/2020 17:22

I don’t imagine you were particularly well paid if your employer puts you straight on SMP! Most half decently well paid job provides something above SMP for a period

FuzzyPuffling · 27/04/2020 17:23

There is very little in life that is fair. This time you fell on the wrong side of the cut off. It's rotten for you, but them's the rules.

marblesgoing · 27/04/2020 17:24

When in March did you go on maternity op?before or after the new lockdown furlough scheme was announced.
Assuming you got the 90% pay for so many weeks before the statutory though?

devildeepbluesea · 27/04/2020 17:24

I have to be honest, this wouldn't bother me at all. It's just one of those things.

And for the record, I was pretty highly paid when I went on mat leave and I only got SMP.

Lumene · 27/04/2020 17:26

My friend paused her self-employed business while looking after and having a baby so gets zero from the govt and no business to go back to. You are in no worse a position than you otherwise would have been at the moment. It could be far worse.

DivGirl · 27/04/2020 17:28

As per maternityaction - If your employer pays contractual maternity pay (occupational maternity pay to top up your SMP), they can put you on furlough during your maternity leave. This will allow your employer to claim up to 80% of the cost of your contractual maternity pay up to £2500 per month.

Also - If you want to receive 80% of pay on furlough you will need to give notice to end your maternity leave. You must take a minimum of 2 weeks’ compulsory maternity leave. You should bear in mind that the furlough scheme could end at any time and if you have given notice to end your maternity leave you cannot go back onto maternity leave.

You are not recieving OMP so you would not be entitled to more unless you gave notice to return.

SunnyStroll · 27/04/2020 17:28

It's what you were expecting and presumably budgeted for. You can't worry about what others have.

WoWsers16 · 27/04/2020 17:29

A lot of things in life is not fair- however you are in no worse position that you would have been if corona virus hadn't had happened. Yes some people are 'benefiting' as such- however I don't think benefiting is the right word. Sid you have savings for your maternity leave? If things are tight they would of been tight anyway.

Pelleas · 27/04/2020 17:29

When you planned your maternity leave, it must have been in expectation of having to manage on SMP because you couldn't have foreseen these events at the point you found you were pregnant. I can see why you're annoyed but I don't think it's unfair because you're getting the pay you expected to get - nothing has been taken away from you.

WoWsers16 · 27/04/2020 17:29

Did you *

Gazelda · 27/04/2020 17:30

You are no worse off than you were this time last week.
Others are benefitting from good fortune related to their EDD, but that's the way the world works.
My DD moved into Y3 at school the same year as free school meals for R,Y1 and Y2 came on. So she/I missed out. Timing. Sometimes it works in our favour, sometimes against.
Sorry you are struggling.

RedAzalea · 27/04/2020 17:30

nothing about covid 19 is fair.....you have an income at least

HandfulOfFlowers · 27/04/2020 17:31

The trouble is, whenever you introduce a cut off, there are always people who fall very close to it. How else would you suggest they manage this? Some you win, some you lose.

Grumpbum123 · 27/04/2020 17:32

I’m guessing that you budgeted for a kid if so suck it up

MerryTwinkletoes · 27/04/2020 17:32

Surely smp is what you were expecting and budgeting for though? Furlough would have been a bonus but you can't grumble that you're not getting it as you wouldn't have in normal circumstances either!

Nekoness · 27/04/2020 17:33

So you weren’t wronged in any way, you’re just jealous.

HappyDinosaur · 27/04/2020 17:33

For technical reasons I got no pay for maternity, I can imagine it feels unfair, but at least you will still get what you expected to.

GCAcademic · 27/04/2020 17:35

Comparison is the thief of joy, OP. Concentrate on your own situation (which, as others have said, is no different to what it’s always been) rather that being consumed by jealousy over what others have.

SunnyStroll · 27/04/2020 17:40

I think you've misunderstood it anyway OP.

Firms can furlough staff on ML in order to recoup contractual MP. If a staff member wants is to be in furlough instead of ML they need to end their ML and effectively declare that they are back to work. You have to take 2 weeks ML though. ML can't be restarted when the furlough scheme ends so, unless you were planning a very short leave you'd likely end up having to go back early.

birdwatching · 27/04/2020 17:41

I don’t imagine you were particularly well paid if your employer puts you straight on SMP! Most half decently well paid job provides something above SMP for a period

I had children with different employers on good pay. I never had more than SMP. I think the statutory minimum is pretty standard in the private sector.

bxroro · 27/04/2020 17:41

It's an absolute joke, I'm as angry as you are. I started maternity leave in March!

KaronAVyrus · 27/04/2020 17:42

And yet you still have a beautiful baby.

Truffleshuff · 27/04/2020 17:45

The guidance says you can be furloughed if you effectively surrender your mat leave and head back to work? Surely that means that if your employer instructs everyone to return to work or when the government lift restrictions you will have to go back to work; I would stay on mat leave tbh. I didn't realise some places pay so little, had 6 months full pay and then 3 statutory, shame that's not standard.

CarlottaValdez · 27/04/2020 17:46

i don’t imagine you were particularly well paid if your employer puts you straight on SMP! Most half decently well paid job provides something above SMP for a period

I don’t know any companies that tier their provision. So if a company just pays SMP (as mine did sadly) that will include the senior people. I earned just over 100k and got SMP.

DarkDarkNight · 27/04/2020 17:46

There’s always got to be a cut-off somewhere and It hasn’t actually made you any worse off than you would have been without the Lockdown though. The people who get 80% of their wage are lucky but you haven’t actually lost anything.

I’d be more pissed off if I was a new employee who missed the cut off and now doesn’t qualify for furlough at all.

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