Did you find out your maternity package before you got pregnant? If so, how?

[notasize10yetbutoneday]

Hi All, my first post on this board.

DH & I are TTc next month (eek!) and so we are starting to think about how we will manage financially. I work in a fairly small private company, where in the 5 years ive been here, only 1 woman has had a baby, and she has since emigrated. So I don't have anyone I can ask about the maternity package, and its not outlined in my contract.

Did any of you find out what maternity pay you would be getting, before you got pregnant? Did anyone actually discuss it with their employer before they got pregnant? (DH thinks this would be a very stupid thing to do but would it? They can't fire me because Im thinking about getting pregnant, can they?)

All advice appreciated, thanks!

Do you have a general terms and conditions book? It had the maternity bits in mine. If you don't have one, ask for one. Don't say why if you're not comfortable.

It was on our office intranet. I think by law they have to publish it somewhere don't they?

And no, they can't fire you for thinking about getting pregnant.

Thats interesting Cosmosis, I wonder if they do have to by law? I will try to find out. I have a contract with the terms and conditions type info at the back but it is like a template contract, you know the type provided for small businesses.

There is only 1 page on pregnancy and it just says 'help us to help you by telling us as early as possible' and how I am entitled to time off for appointments etc, but it doesn't mention the financial side of it.

I may be completely wrong though!

How small is the company? do you have an Hr dept you can ring annomously? NO point worrying work (I know they shouldn't sack you..but hey if redundancies are gonna happen they know who to look for) because ttc can take months or years anyway.

Actually if you plan on getting pregnant no matter what the maternity package, I think you should just wait to ask unless you can find out annonmously.

No HR dept unfortunately, its 20 (ish) employees and just one general manager and the directors who are based elsewhere and not involved int he day-to-day running of the company.

Very true about knowing who to look for re: redundancies.

True...its just one of those things where I really would like to know as theres a heck of a difference between eg 6 weeks full pay and 6 months full pay. But yes you are absolutely right, we will be TTC no matter what the package.

I think it's highly likely if it's that small a company that they just offer SMP tbh, if I were you ( and I wouldn't want to ask either) I'd base my plans on that and anything else is a bonus. FWIW I've never actually worked anywhere that offers any more than SMP anyway but maybe I'm just unlucky!

I think you should consider what the impact of knowing would be.

A lot of companies offer the statutory minimum, see here. As an example my employer offers full pay for 6 weeks, then 33% of my pay for 20 then statutory for 13. When you calculate this all out I will get about £3k more than statutory (less tax) and someone earning less than about 20k would just get the statutory minimum based on this scheme. Would a difference of £3k be significant to your decision to ttc?

You don't sound like it is going to change your mind about ttc (e.g. to get a job with better terms and wait for the entitlement period for enhanced maternity pay to kick in, often 2 years). Nor do you have time in one month to start saving. It might make a difference to how long you feel you can stay off with your baby for, but if you have decided already to have that baby then you will need to accept whatever the deal is and take the length of time you can afford.

As Sanielle says ttc can take years and if you discuss it with your company it could become common knowledge and hamper your chances of changing job in your industry (you would hope not, but the world can be small and gossipy).

My friends have had very varied experiences of maternity pay and the one who works for a very small employer negotiated it before she took the job as the guy who employed her hadn't given it any though.

I would suggest that you plan financially for statutory maternity pay and consider any more that comes in as a bonus.

I didn't but once i was pg and was given a copy I pinned a copy to the staff room notice board in case anyone wanted a look.