34 wks pregnant, worked NHS for 4 years, TODAY said I don't get maternity pay!

[pinkladyapple]

I started working for NHS trust "A" as full-time and permanent in 2012. I started working for my new trust "B" this year in February when I was already 12 weeks pregnant. Before signing contracts/handing in notice I spoke to HR department in both trust A and B, as well as speaking to my union who all confirmed I will still get the full maternity benefits.

I handed in my Maternity Certificate to trust B, and this morning they have returned it back to me in the post. It has a timestamp on from the payroll office at B with the date "15 April 2016" on it, and attached is a form saying that I do not qualify for SMP as I haven't worked there for long enough. But I have almost 5 years continuous service in the NHS!

And even if I hadn't, why on earth is it okay for them to sit on my form for 8 weeks before sending it to me as if I have to apply for MA (government allowance) I now don't have enough time to do it in! So if I'm in the situation where I have to fight their decision I'm gonna be without any money.

I have rang payroll who basically said "Oh, well, I'm going to have to contact trust A and I should be able to get back to you later today, if not definitely tomorrow."

My pay seems right taking into account how many years service I have, so now I'm panicking that things aren't going to be in place by the time I leave. And I'm planning to have my mat leave start within 3 weeks.

Did you chose to apply for a job with 'Trust B' assuming this is set up as a separate employer...or were you transferred over? If the latter then you have protected TUPE rights which would recognise your continuous service. If you applied for a job effectively with another employer it would be dependant on what's was agreed at the time of transfer - or indeed if they have any president with anyone who has done the same recently?

It is the same job on the same pay scale and it's still NHS - the only difference is that I'm working in a different hospital in the county next door. When I enquired about it I was told that even though it's different Trusts it's still the same company (NHS) so should still be the same.

With my job you go up a 'pay band' each year that you work with them, and when I took my job with Trust B they employed me on the same band that I was on at Trust A because they said all my benefits carry on.

If you didn't have a break, it counts as continual service. I changed jobs whilst pregnant without an issue. You need to go back to HR and your Union, especially if they explicitly said you would get the maternity pay!

You can apply and they will back date it. If the baby has been born you will need to send the birth certificate as well.

I'm sure you are still entitled to mat pay as you are still NHS. I am NHS and know that if I change jobs and end up going back to another trust it doesn't matter and I won't be expected to pay anything back. Get onto your Union!! What a crappy stress to have when 34 weeks pregnant :( hope it gets sorted soon

I was in a similar position. It meant I got my occupational NHS maternity pay due to my time working in the NHS, but had to apply for maternity allowance.

You'll get paid from work the OMP which is what you would get minus the £540 ? That SMP is then you claim maternity allowance using a form from the job centre from what I remember you include your certificate and the letter that states why they won't pay it - because you haven't worked there long enough and 3 months worth of pay slips and the birth certificate the baby has been born. It's quite a long form. You can pick 2 or 4 weekly and they will text you with am update and you'll get back dated from when the baby is born. Congratulations amd enjoy your mat leave x

Sounds to me like payroll worked of your start date with Trust B and don't realise your continuous start date should be used instead. If you're on Agenda For Change terms and didn't have a break between leaving A and joining B you should qualify for maternity pay.

Yeah I'm on Agenda for Change and I did not have a break - finished the Sunday, started the following Monday.

They rang back and said I need to wait until one specific lady is back in the office on Wednesday because she's the one who dealt with my claim which is fair enough I guess. I've already been onto HR because I am currently off sick due to stress - I'm in the process of filing a grievance against my manager. Also been onto union about that as well so it'll complicate things if I have two issues going on at the same time.

You'll get paid don't worry. I can't remember what the acronym is but they trace your service back to previous trusts. I've done this recently and took my time sorting it out too.

Oh my. This makes me quite stressed as I also moved trusts and still awaiting them to confirm my mat leave pay. Hope it gets sorted out quickly for you

You do qualify and you will get it. The only reason you shouldn't is if you had more than seven calendar days that weren't annual leave between the two. HR have probably processed from the new start date.

What Frizzy said. OMP from 2nd job, MA from benefits office. Despite being different trusts it counts as continuous service for the NHS.

Thank you for the reassurance everyone. Just with everything else that has gone on it was like the icing on the cake to get that letter yesterday!

Had a call from HR today about my complaint, have to call payroll again tomorrow to chase maternity pay... supposed to be relaxing. Such is life though.

You should be entitled to the NHS package of Maternity pay as you have been in continuous NHS service, although across 2 jobs
what might be the problem is the second employment paying Statutory Maternity Pay as you haven't been in that post long enough to qualify; in which case you would be entitled to Maternity Allowance, applying for this directly from the goverment/social security: its the same amount as the SMPay so you should not have an overall reduction in pay due to this, its just more of a palaver to apply for

I got caught in this the other year - had a brief move between trusts near the start of my pregnancy which 'reset the clock' and when I came back to my original place of employment found they couldn't give me Stat mat pay. Really annoyed as I have no choice over where I get sent to work, but the Mat allowance was surprisingly easy to apply for online

Good luck, with this and the rest of your pregnancy

Different Trust means different employer, even though it's under the umbrella of the NHS.

To qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay an employee has to have 26 weeks continuous service with the one (current) employer by the beginning of the 15th week before the Expected Week of Childbirth (EWC). Statutory pay will be made up of:

Got this from the NHS standard contract . Looks like you'll get some but not all

As other posts have said, I will qualify for MA which is exactly the same as SMP.

However both HR departments have confirmed it counts as continuous service as my contract is with nhs and not the hospital specifically.

I checked mine today on the back of this and I also have to apply for MA. Are we guaranteed to get 39 weeks worth?

You just have to qualify so if you've worked the right amount of weeks you get it. I had worked but had changed trusts so I qualified for OMP from the NHS and maternity allowance which I claimed. My trust sent me the amounts I would get each month. It's quite a long form but easy enough to fill in and they back dated it because I posted it when DD was a couple of months old.

When you received your P45 from your old trust did you forward the top copy to payroll at your new trust? This is what they use to prove your continuous service in the NHS. If they don't have it you can photocopy your copy and send them that.

You should still get NHS maternity pay as all benefits are transferred to the new trust. This includes, long service annual leave, maternity pay, sick pay and salary.

An update, finally.

Got a letter this morning which confirms that they will pay me the occupational maternity pay! Also they have sent me all the relevant forms which I need to apply for MA from the government (which is the same as statutory) which will top up the total pay I'll get. Got a little stressed this morning though as I didn't understand some of the paperwork (especially one line which says for 6 weeks I will get "full pay" of less than £40 a week, but it turns out that doesn't include what I'd get from MA so it works out).

Going to rummage through to find all the necessary payslips etc I need later today once I've chilled out after trying to get my head round how it works.

Thanks again though everyone.

Good news. I am also sending off my forms today - it's been such a stressful weekend worrying about it. Literally been loosing sleep.
Good luck with the forms