Hi Ladies,
Need some advise from those who have any knowledge of entitlements to Mat Pay and SMP. I am roughly 6-7 weeks pregnant, work as a temp for an agency and have been temping with the same company for over 3 months full-time. I'm currently in talks about getting a perm contract whilst looking elsewhere for permanent full time positions. The issue is, on the .gov.uk website, it states that in order to qualify for Mat pay, 'you should be on your payroll in the ‘qualifying week’ - the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth' and have been employed by that company for 26 weeks which means i would need to get a perm full time job end of this month if i have any chance of this. I'm unsure if i am an employer for the agent or just a worker. I'm kind of scared about the lack of money, and if i am even entitled to MAT pay, i have savings so i'm not too worried about money for the moment, just fearful that it won't cover especially if i don't qualify for Mat pay or SMP. Any advise would be appreciated.. I've read other posts from previous mums-to-be and some responses were really rude about saving before pregnancy and how 'you should have thought about it before getting pregnant ' etc please keep those to yourself as this post may help other woman in similar positions.