New job whilst pregnant meaning no maternity pay

[Lolliloo]

I’ve just applied for a new job and had an interview today. I’m 17+5 weeks pregnant and I’m worried that if I’m successful in getting the job that by the time recruitment has completed it will be too late for me to qualify for maternity pay as I won’t have been working there for 26 weeks prior to maternity leave. Has anyone been in this situation before?
I also have not mentioned that I’m pregnant, I’m waiting to get the job offer first. The job will see me jump 2 pay bands so I’m trying to figure out if it’s worth me struggling for a few months on SMP.
Any advice will be welcome.

Would you get maternity allowance? Short term pain for long term gain. Do you have savings to cushion? Breastfeed, reusable nappies and babygros to keep costs down!

You won't get maternity pay - you need to be there 26 weeks before the date that's 15 weeks before you due date. Or to put it another way you need to be working there a week before you get pregnant. You don't join at six months pregnant and qualify for maternity pay.

Work out the maternity allowance as you have to have started your job before getting pregnant to get smp.

At 17+5 there's only 22(+2) weeks until your due, so no matter how fast recruitment are you wont qualify. If you get and take the job, I think you might need to apply for maternity allowance, it's basically the same as SMP but you don't get the 6 weeks at 90%.

Whether it's worth while is a very personal question, and will depend on if you can manage on the money? If your partnercan support you on lower mat pay? If you plan to go back full time? And many other factors. Instinctively I would be tempted to go for it, short term pain for long term gain. Pluse once the sleepless nights set in you might not have the time or energy to seek out this kind of opportunity for a while.

Sorry my mistake I put SMP instead of Maternity allowance. I am very aware I won’t get maternity pay that’s the whole point of me posting for advice. Has anyone been in the same situation?
I’m also in the process of buying a new house so it a not the most ideal situation right now.
My OH is in a well paid job and should be able to see us through it I just don’t like putting all the financial pressure on him, however it would definitely benefit us in the long term

You can qualify for MA from more than one job, you just need a certain number of weeks employed within a set period. Its well explained if you google it - Citizens Advice website is very good. And yes I got MA in the same situation because of changing job, I only missed SMP by about a week.

Are you sure about their mat leave policy? I've worked at several firms where you'd be eligible for the company mat leave pay as soon as you join. It's always worth enquiring about seeing their "HR policies" as part of the final interview stages.

Were you working before this job?
In the 66 weeks before the due date you need to have worked for 26 weeks and have earned £30 in 13 of those 26 weeks

If you were employed before this job then you should get MA as its counted on working for 26 weeks out of the 66 weeks before birth

Always put long term career / finances ahead of short term pain - especially when there’s no pain! Your baby’s father can afford to cover this period. So do that.
And congratulations on being called for interview for such a step up - go for it!

I got the job! Thanks for the advice everyone.