hi, im a sahm to a 5yo,really want another baby, would i be able to claim ma? or would i have to get a job 1st?

[broodymummy]

hi dd is now 5 and i miss her so much since she started school, i feel really broody for another baby, although money is a bit tight and i need to convice dh.

what i wondered if any of you mums knew was, even as a sahm would i be entitled to claim anything like maternity allowence?
as that would make my dream possible?

or if i returned to work, how long would i need to work for, before trying for a baby
to either get employers materanity leave or maternity allowence

or what about if i did some sort of self employed work, how long would i need to do that for before being able to claim maternaty allowence

please,please help me make my dreams come true

No you won't get anything, MA is for women who work, those of us contributing tax and NI, forgive me for being blunt but exactly how much of those have you paid in the last 5 years?

Agree that you shouldn't just see having a job as something to finance your next baby and something you can then drop as soon as you've done that.

I dont get it if you are a sahm then why do you need the MA??
I am a sahm to 3 children and worked until ds was around 4mths but then got ill. I would never have dreamed of going back to work just to be paid to have another baby.

thanks flowery i think i get it now

so say for example the "virtual" baby lol was due 27th dec 2008, i had have to put in 26 weeks before that?

how would that work if i only did a couple of days a week?

not sure if it would be easier to go for self employed or employed really

when is the earliest you can go on mat leave is it 29 weeks?

Wouldn't she being paid for working?

If you want to do this it would probably be easiest just to get a job tbh, not faff around being self-employed. The link will tell you about how much you need to earn. If you qualify for SMP you can start it at 29 wks yes.

So you're actually going to do this, get a job with the sole intention of leaving asap to get maternity leave? People like you give working mothers a bad name, and employers are justified in there annoyance at this. This is not what legislation was written for, you are totally playing the system.

Agree it is not fair to get a job and do this

But becoming self-employed is a better idea - then you aren't shafting a company - what would you do? You just have to pay your NI contributions for a certain period of time and will then be entitled to MA

self-employed you need to have earned (and paid national insurance) on average £30 per week for 6 months. However you will get a maximum of £112 per week MA - if you have only earned an average of £30 per week you will only get 90% of your average earnings (£27). To get £100 which you think you will get, you need to earn an average £112 per week consistently over 6 months.

AS I said - wouldn't it just be easier to get a job and earn some money which you can save to pay for your baby?

but there are conditions to being self employed, and they are quite specific. you have to declare yourself as self employed and then follow those conditions.

Indiechick - "People like you give working mothers a bad name" - a little harsh... but what I was thinking!!

One of my friends (a woman) says she hates employing women of a certain age because she's sick of them going off on maternity leave 7 months later having paid 15% of their annual salary to a recruitment company.

Of course I have argued with her about the need for sensible maternity allowances but I find it hard to justify when faced with these kind of situations.

Of course going self- employed is a much better solution - then you're only shafting me the tax-payer .

Just go an earn some money and save it - if you can be self employed and earn £112 for 26 weeks then you'll havenearly £3,000 to spend!

In my last job I only worked for 4 terms before I had a baby. And I took the job knowing that I would be trying to get pregnant.

I worked hard, full time and did a good job. We parted on good terms and they often offer me supply work.

I don't feel that I "shafted" them.

Right

So you are going to go on ML at 29 weeks.

Which means you will have to start working around about the time of conception or thereabouts.

I assume you won't be going back after having the baby.

Completely taking the piss imho, if those are actually your plans

Get a job because you want a job or an income, not because you want a few months' free money.

Stuff like this really makes me cross.

and I once took on an employee knowing she was pregnant. I have been in a position of wokring whilst trying to get pregnant, but I haven't taken the job just so I could get maternity benefit - I didn't have any choice I needed a job to pay the mortgage. IN fact I didn't get pregnant and worked for the company for a decent amount of time.

Your entitled to think that deliberately taking a job just in order to work for 6 months then take maternity pay isn't shafting the company (and in fact the other people who didn't get the job and might in fact have needed it). I think it is.

madonna totallt agree
and as you say they hav offered you supply work so they seem happy to

one of my friends also fell pregnant on her year mat leave, only went back to work for about 3 weeks and then was off for another year

Me too, TF...

I will be honest and tell you that women doing this is not exactly creating goodwill from employers towards women in the workplace. Shame I think.

full marks for lateral thinking..not sure that it is how things are supposed to work tho for all the reasons mentioned

you could actually be self employed...depending on your income you might then be eligible for working tax credits

yes thats why ive decided to go self employed

What difference does motivation make for the employer?

I did take the job because we needed the money, and DH was "between jobs".

It didn't take him long to find a new one, although there was of course no guarantee of that, which is why I looked for work as well.

Would it really have been better to have both of us out of work?

Or should I have waited for a certain time before trying to get pregnant (that highly uncertain science) to make it fair to my employer?

They gave me the job because they thought I was the best person for it. I did the job well for over a year.

very good point madonna

TFM, I still think your motivation is slightly different to OP. She seems to just be after the MA.

But that's my point. What difference does the motivation make to the employer? None at all surely?

Makes a massive difference to how mothers (and women in general, I would say) are viewed in the workplace though.

you can only get itm if you have done about 30 hrs work a week and have proof

i only just qualified when pg with ds as had to give up work was full time due to bad back and sickness went part time and it has to be in so may weeks from being pregnant if i'm correct