Maternity leave

[MumofOne2017]

My year of maternity is coming to an end. I work for a public service company and I'm thinking how long I have to be at work before I get pregnant to quality for maternity leave for baby number two, currently Ttc

I work for the Civil Service and we don’t have to work a minimum time between babies. One colleague did 3 weeks.

Whilst you're on maternity leave it's classed as continuous service so it wouldn't affect future maternity when you got pregnant again

If you are still on maternity leave during the qualifying weeks then I think your maternity pay will be based on this so you will get less money next time round. The qualifying weeks are the period up to around 25 weeks I think.

Thanks all. So I'd have to be back 25 weeks before qualifying for mat leave? I'm back PT. would I be able to go back to FT before I told HR to gain the four months of full mat leave? Lots to work out....think it'll take us a while ttc tbh

You need to check your current maternity policy. You don't need to requalify for the 25 weeks. You already do qualify as you are still an employee whilst on mat leave.

Sorry my post wasn't that clear. They work out your maternity pay based on your salary. At my work (NHS so may be different) they look at how much you are paid at a certain point in your pregnancy (the qualifying weeks, approx weeks 17-25) and calculate your mat pay on that. So I think it's better financially to be working lots then. But I'm not 100% so apologies if this is bad advice.

I agree that maternity pay will differ as its dependant on your salary within x number of months prior to getting pregnant , however you will qualify for maternity pay but if you want a higher amount then you would need to work more hours and earn a higher salary

I don't think this is particularly relevant OP if you are already back at work, but this article talks about how your SMP is calculated based on your earnings in approx week 17 to 25, so ideally you want to be back at work by then, potentially full time to get max pay. I thought it was the same period used to calculate your enhanced maternity pay but don't know the civil service details.

www.maternityaction.org.uk/advice-2/mums-dads-scenarios/pregnancy-during-maternity-leave/

Basically, consult the person in charge and try to make a discussion so that you will get the exact information.

@BendingSpoons thank you! I'm rubbish with maternity pay. It took me ages to understand first time round but you've made it clear and I think I know what I need to do in order to make preg number too mat leave friendly. Thank you

Glad to help. Good luck ttc.