Maternity leave

[whatsthecraic91]

I'm currently planning my maternity leave and I want to take the full 52 weeks.

I will get the 39 weeks of statutory maternity pay, does anyone know if you are eligible to claim universal credit for the remaining 13 weeks of unpaid leave or am I not eligible as I am choosing to not return to work as I am technically employed?

Things will be really tight if I'm not entitled to anything and may have to return to work sooner than I would like!

No, i think you are right that technically you're still employed so you won't get UC for the 13 weeks.

However you ARE still entitled to accrue holiday while you are on mat leave, including Bank Holidays. So, let's assume you that take just the 39 weeks of leave and let's assume in that time you accrued 20 days holiday incl. Bank hols, then you can tell your company you wish to return to work at the beginning of the 40th week BUT you want to immediately use up all your holiday, therefore not actually returning to work until start of week 44. Holiday is paid, so you would therefore get paid in week 40-43. That's just an example obviously.

Note also that if you have a partner, they might also be entitled to some paid parental leave beyond just the statutory paternity leave, and in that case you could take advantage of sharing the 52 weeks of leave you're entitled to. Together, mum and dad are allowed to share the 52 weeks of leave. So if your OH is lucky enough to work somewhere that pays more than just the statutory minimum to fathers, he might be able to take weeks 44 to 52 off work, for example, on full or partial pay, whilst you return to work. (He is allowed to take his statutory paternity leave right away when the baby is born, and then later take another block or blocks of leave, as long as together you and he don't take more than 52 weeks) It's unlikely he can get enhanced pay but it is worth checking!

I thought you could still claim

According to the turn2us calculator you can claim on maternity leave.

Yes you can claim UC, it will be based on the household income so if your partner has a good wage that might still mean you're not entitled.

"No, i think you are right that technically you're still employed so you won't get UC for the 13 weeks."
^ Ignore that, it's completely wrong!

Do you have a partner and do they work? If you are a cohabiting couple, Universal Credit (like any means-tested benefit) is based on your combined income and savings.

Whether you are entitled to UC, and if so how much, depends on several factors including income/savings and whether you rent or have a mortgage.

You might find you're entitled to some UC while on SMP, or just when SMP ends. Use a benefit calculator like Turn2Us or Entitledto. If you want more advice and help to work it all out, contact your local Citizens Advice. Most are still not doing F2F advice but giving advice by phone, email etc.

I think you should also get 10 Kit (keeping in touch) days which are paid at your usual daily rate. You can take them at any point in the year or save until you are on the unpaid part of your leave. Check with your employer, but most people I know didn't do a full day to get their kit day pay. Some just went in for a meeting or a morning, but obviously this will depend on your boss/company policy.

Thank you all!

@AnotherEmma I went on to entitledto and including my partners income I am entitled to £98 per week including my child benefit, so not a lot but it will definitely help us out and will be do able for 13 weeks. I can relax now and know I can be off for baby's first year 😁

Does anybody know if you have to wait to claim or can you have it set up to kick in straight away from when my stat pay ends?

You should wait to claim. Are you usually paid monthly by your employer? Wait until the last time that you get SMP for the whole month (should be about £655) and then claim UC the day after you are paid. If there is another month after that when you get less (ie because you get SMP for part of the month but not the whole month) then it won't matter as you should still get some UC that month.

@AnotherEmma I'm paid weekly and I read the average claim takes about 5 weeks so it would be hard going if I had to wait the 5 weeks for my first payment 😬 I'll maybe just need to plan a bit so I have some money to cover me until it kicks in! I'll maybe drop the citizens advice an email and see what they say. This is about a year away so I have plenty of time to get sorted out. Thank you for your help 😊

You can't claim before you're eligible, otherwise you'll have to wait even longer for the first payment because you'll get zero the first month.

However, you can request an advance payment when you first claim, so you won't have to wait the full 5 weeks.

If you're paid weekly then you could probably claim UC when you still have 1 or 2 weekly SMP payments left. As UC is worked out on income for the month, a month when you get 2 x £151.20 will be £302.40 and you'll probably still get some UC that month.

You seem to be approaching this with the mindset of a single person but if you have a partner and you're having a child together, it should be a joint responsibility and decision about how to manage finances during maternity leave - you shouldn't be scraping by on SMP and then UC while he continues on his full earnings. If you're not doing joint finances and joint accounts, then you will need to adjust your contributions to joint expenses so that he contributes significantly more while your income is reduced on maternity leave.

@AnotherEmma all our finances are joint in one account, my partner and I make about the same salary and are comfortable at the minute but haven't really any money left at the end of the month. We have little savings. So when I go down to £0 at the end of my SMP it will be a struggle. We have high rent and my partner has a 6 year old he pays for too who we also have every weekend. We have a little bit of debt too so things will definitely be tight. If it ends up I have to go back to work earlier than planned then I have to face that reality but I just wanted to see if we can get that little bit of help for a few weeks.

Definitely talk to Citizens Advice as they will be able to confirm what I've said about UC and should also be able to advise on debts too.

Also money saving expert has some great budgeting and debt advice.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/baby-checklist/

You don't have to take the full 52 weeks maternity leave, you could just take the 39 weeks and then use some annual leave if you want a bit longer with baby, but with the advantage of being paid.

You may not be eligible for Uc until your baby is born because at that point you will get the child element and a work allowance meaning that the first £292 of jount earnings are disregarded before wages reduce your UC amount.