maternity benefit

[allatsea]

It looks as if I'll be on maternity leave when my fixed term contract ends in April. Does anyone know what that means in terms of statutory and occupational maternity pay? I work in education and I had to return to work after dd1 in order to keep the occupational maternity pay - but what happens if I don't have a job to go back to?

I started a thread in a similar vein on the 'Going back to work' board.

I'm pretty sure that the OMP ends when your contract does (like their obligation to you for holiday, etc. ends) but SMP works in a 'started so I'll finish' kind of way to the 18 (?) weeks. It's paid by your employer who claim it from the government so it's of no consequence to them whether you have left or not.

If you want more money I would go on maternity leave as soon as you can (11 weeks before EDD?) as I guess the OMP will be better than the SMP.

Sorry to sound vague. I know there is information lurking on the net certainly about SMP.

No time at the moment to check it out but will post more later if I find stuff.

Allatsea - SMP is 6 weeks at 90% of you average earnings and then 18 weeks at £100 per week. Can't help with the OMP coz I'm a Contractor and I'm not entitled to it. When I left me job there was no job for to go back to either. But my SMP just started when I finished. Sorry I can't be of more help.

can you even stretch the truth a little about the edd and start maternity leave even earlier? also postpone holidays which are normally paid in lieu if you can't take them before you leave. Would you normally renew your contract anyway or will the job have finished by then? They might find it hard to jsutify not extending your contract because you were on maternity leave if your job still existed and they had to hire someone else to replace you.

thanks for that initial infor sashaboo - is it just an education thing that you have to be able to return to work in order to keep the OMP?