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Interesting/awkward SMP situation

5 replies

wetbreed · 19/05/2014 19:17

Hi everyone,

I am in an interesting/awkward situation with regards to Statutory Maternity Pay and would like some advice. I am married and I currently have 2 jobs. My husband is employed full time. I am employed as follows:

Employer A - I have been employed with them since 2006. I work 28.75 hours per week

Employer B - I have been employed with them since 2003. I work 9 hours per week.

I am pregnant with my second child and only 8 weeks away from the due date. Employer A is paying SMP, however Employer B sent me a letter saying that they are not paying me SMP as I do not earn enough.

As a result, I applied for Maternity Allowance with regards to Employer B, however I received a letter last week saying that as Employer A is paying me SMP, I am not entitled to claim MA also. I am assuming this will be the same if I applied for Employment and Support Allowance.

Employer B is worth around £240 a month after tax, which may not seem much, but will be a struggle not to have it.

I thought an option may be to claim SMP from Employer A and continue working for Employer B, but have been told by Employer B I cannot do this if I am claiming SMP from Employer A.

So it seems that if I want to have time off from Employer A to spend time with my newborn, I am going to be forced into struggling to pay bills.

Is this correct, or does anyone have any ideas or advice.

OP posts:
StealthPolarBear · 19/05/2014 19:19

I would have assumed you could only get one lot of SMP, yes.

wetbreed · 19/05/2014 19:22

That is correct, only employer A is paying SMP

OP posts:
LIZS · 19/05/2014 19:23

Think you only get SMP form A not B . After 6 weeks you are on a flat rate anyway so you aren't "losing" any more , but maybe £400 pretax initially. Don't forget you can claim KIT days and leave.

wetbreed · 19/05/2014 19:34

I found this when looking for more advice online

maternityaction.org.uk/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/morethanonejob.pdf

according to this, you can work for a second employer who isn't paying SMP whilst still claiming SMP from another

Thoughts?

OP posts:
WoodBurnerBabe · 19/05/2014 19:34

You can get SMP from 2 employers if you are earning enough in the qualifying period. There is a checker on the direct gov website if you want to make sure they have calculated it correctly.

I know someone who did 15hrs a week each for 2 employers and got SMP from them both.

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