I'm so stressed

[Dh7d8h]

I currently work for a care company and usually take home on average around £1200 a month, ever since I told the office I was pregnant my hours have dropped tremendously. Apparently its due to a loss in clients, i feel my ahifts have been given to other employees as its a large company Im not sure if this is true and cant call them liers. The past 2 months I have only made £500 a month which has left me so stressed with money troubles, I recieved my matb1 form today and hoping to get this in ASAP as I feel like I'm being treated unfairly. How is my maternity leave figured out will it be based over yearly wage or will it be what I have earned over the past 2 months. I'm very worried about this as I feel this is all planned to pay me less during maternity. I am also on a 0 hour contract but have worked way above average before I told them I was pregnant. Now my hours have been dropped to just over 1 day a week which is a joke.

OP I'm sorry this is happening to you but I am pretty sure having been on a zero hour contract and got statutory mat pay myself that they look at how much you have earned on average over a period of time. I wasn't earning much at all doing sporadic ad hoc work but I still cut it so you will too.

Hi @Dh7d8h. Firstly, congratulations on your pregnancy.

I am an Employment Law Consultant so hopefully can help answer some of your questions.

On the presumption that you qualify for SMP (check the .gov website), your first 6 weeks of SMP are worked out from the Average Weekly Earnings you’ve weren’t over the ‘Qualifying Period’, so it is more than likely that the first 6 weeks of your SMP could be affected due to your drop in hours. If you go onto the .gov website, they have a tool that you can enter your due date etc and it shows what payslips are considered for the SMP calculations. If you can’t find the link, let me know.

if you’ve been doing the same hours every week for a substantial period of time, and not fluctuated, then you aren’t a zero hours worker. Have your hours been the same up to you informing them about your pregnancy? If they have, I can see why you feel they are discriminating against you and I would absolutely be asking them about the change in hours. Have others been told it’s a loss if clients and had their hours reduced?

Sorry, that should read ‘you’ve EARNT over the Qualifying Period.

Hi thankyou so much in getting back, no my hours are usually different each month I work a few night sits so that increases my money at times and days. I have always earned between 1000-1200 but the past 2 months since I told them it's dropped to £500 a month which I would probably be better off on benefits.
I feel like I'm being treated unfairly.
I have recieved my matb1 form and I'm hoping in starting maternity as soon as I can as im worried that they will continue to decrease my hours as time goes by. Hence why I was wondering would I be based on average early earnings.

Yearly earnings*

Your pay will be worked out over an 8 week average.

This is worked backwards from you due date (the “qualifying week” is 15 weeks before your due date, and the “qualifying period” (the weeks used for the calculation) is the 8 weeks before that. So look at what you earned in weeks 18-25 of your pregnancy.

@Dh7d8h if you feel you are being treated unfairly it's worth getting in touch with your local citizens advice or law centre to get some advice