Not entitled to maternity pay

[Rachael200694]

Hiya, was just wondering if anyone knew how this will work?
I'm not entitled to SMP through my employer as I was pregnant when I started, therefore I will be getting maternity allowance whilst on maternity leave.
Apparently when I go back to work I will then be paid maternity leave from the company because I'd then been there long enough to qualify. Do you think it will just be paid monthly as if I'm on maternity leave on top of my wage when I return to work? Thanks

I don't understand this. What do you mean you will get paid maternity leave from the company when you go back to work? How can you get paid maternity leave once you ARE back at work?

Just what I was told by the manager., that because I'm not currently entitled, they will pay me it when I return!

As in pay me the money I should have recieved during maternity leave when I am back working if you get what I mean?

If you are not entitled, you are not entitled. Instead you might be able to get maternity allowance.
To qualify for smp you need to have worked for at least 26 weeks up the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth.

I think they mean they will pay maternity leave if you return and get pregnant again.

I agree with mamij.

OR they have some sort of bonus scheme whereby they pay you a token sum for going back to work.

Nope, they definitely said you can't get the pay now but when you return you'll get it then! Nobody must have experienced the same haha, seems to be baffling everyone. Thanks anyway

In that sentence, I would think the same as mamij. You won't get it now but you will get it then, i.e. when you return... and you have another child. As far as I am aware, no one gets maternity pay whilst actually working.

You really should contact HR and get them to tell you in writing what you are entitled to. It would be painful to expect this, and later it turns out to be not what you expected.

You cannot get payed for maternity leave for this pregnancy, when you have returned to work.

You need to seek clarification on what they really meant.

You need to get written clarification from the HR department.

You don't get both. The only people who are entitled to maternity allowance are those who are not entitled to SMP.

You can't get maternity allowance from the government and then receive another lot of SMP from your employer, that's surely benefit fraud or something along those lines?!

You only get one lot of maternity pay for one job, you need to ask for clarification

I will check with them again, maybe I've got it wrong! Hmmm

Did you manage to get some clarification from work OP? Hope it went well.

surely if you are getting maternity pay when you return( and I doubt that is correct), surely you wouldn't also get maternity allowance when you actually are off? Doesn't make sense at all.

Sounds like you/manager are getting confused. You get MA for this baby but will accrue service for the time off so that you'd get MP for any future ML.

I got smp whilst on mat leave. Then when i advised them i was going back i got a maternity bonus which was 7 weeks full pay. When i went back to work i got another maternity bonus of 13 weeks half pay. None of it included smp and all of it was repayable (apart from smp) if i left before i had been back for 3 months. What you're describing sounds similar but check with HR.

I think this sounds like a return to work bonus

I have been in this situation, started a job when 6 months pregnant, just got maternity allowance. Had to bite he bullet and dig into my savings. No sum of money waiting for me when I got back. I made damn sure I sat tight and stayed in that job till I got pregnant again though.