I just checked the maternity leave policy at work....that cant be right ! Pleasantly surprised !

[inbetweener]

I'm kind of shocked. I only discovered I was pg at the weekend with baby number 3. I have 2 DDs aged 6 and 8 so havent been on maternity leave for a while. I only had 4 months and 6 months with both of them.
The policy has since changed in the way that they pay you your maternity pay( I work for the NHS ) and I have just calculated I can have 52 weeks of at £1250 a month !!!! You are allowed to spread your payments about over the whole entitlement if you want.

That seems like such a lot ??

Im just surprised. I never knew I could do it like that ! I never dreamed I would be able to take the full 12 months off but I reckon I could live on that.

Good for you! Plenty of people don't get such a large payment so I say enjoy!

(And never leave such forward thinking employers... Who are they?)

wow - that's very unusual. Most places go down to nothing after 39 weeks.

I'm sorry I realsie that may have come across as boasting. Im really not

I work for the NHS in South London.
basically they now give you the option to have your maternity pay in four ways.
1: 8 weeks full pay and 18 weeks half pay
2: 34 weeks half pay
3: 17 weeks full pay
4: cash value of option 1 pain in 52 equal installments.

So if Ive done my maths right, then option 4 is the better deal in terms of knowing what your money is every month ?

I meants paid not pain sorry.

lol - it'sa not boasting. I get 18 weeks from my employer which is really generous too I think, compared to many.

I thought it was standard practice that everyone got 9 months, first 6 weeks at 95% pay then SMP of around £105 per week for remaining weeks. option to take additional 3 months unpaid.

Thats what I got anyway, and it was tough. Good for you for having a better deal :)

Whoaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh !
I take it back.
I can have the above but my maths is UTTERLY wrong.
Its nowhere near that spread over 52 weeks !! Its something like £300 a month PMSL !!!

I take it back.
Oh bloody hell I was all excited then. Dont know which option to pick now !!!

I got full pay for 9 months.

Very lucky

i'm sorry but I did laugh out loud then- sooo something I would do!

I went part time to one day a week just before I went on maternity leave so obviously my pay dropped to nowt- somehow I worked out that I was getting paid more on maternity leave than on my one day a week- bonus thinks I- nope got my maths wrong too!

Bloody full pay for nine months !
That is lucky !!

I am soooo confused with this maternity pay.
Do I get my maternity pay ( ie my wages ) and then OMP on top ?
I seem to remember being ok last time but now Ive looked at it I just cant work it out ?? I think to need to give HR a call and ask them to work it out for me lol !

Surely all the options are the same value though? just paid out slightly differently. (creating extra admin costs, no doubt :))

So it doesn't really matter which you pick.

Foghorn, you can get statutory for 9 months, but it's first 6 weeks at 90% and then the following time at £123 a week.

You were right, but the figures slightly changed (probably a timing thing)

Am still at company schemes though

statutory pay sorry

Think I get the same as you Foghorn Leghorn - which is fairly reasonable. I'm hoping that I'll be able to put a bit aside when I'm on full pay (won't be paying £100's for commuting/parking etc) that will help once the pay stops. Though apparently babies are expensive!

Thats right dancing, I just checked.

I haven't been on maternity leave for a while now so it's changed slightly

I'm NHS too - but I could only spread my pay over the 38 "paid" weeks - still had to take 13 weeks unpaid.

You don't get SMP on top of OMP - it forms part of it.

I work for the NHS and no one told me I could spread it out... Annoyed now! I'm 7 months in and on SMP only.
Aaahh well, we are lucky that they have a very good maternity leave policy compared with other places.

Lucieloo - do you know what ... I don't think babies themselves are expensive - buying all the equipment you need if it's your first child can be but babies themselves aren't overly expensive.

When they get to 6,4 and 2 like mine .. well thats another story altogether

Oh yes I know all the options are the same. Its juts trying to work out which one will give me a steady income lol. My DH is currently at college so its only me earning a wage. hence my panic and glee at the thought of having 12 months off !
I can see that wont happen now though.

If I am earning less though becuase of being on maternity leave will they adjust my tax credits or is that just wishful thinking ?

Ahh. I get it now. Yes, you are all lucky. Working in the public sector is undoubtedly better in situations like these. The rest of us are often

Now I'm going to pop off elsewhere before I get myself into trouble.

I thought that's what it would have been Foghorn. I wish the 90% bit could have gone on a bit longer.

Glad you say that Foghorn, I thought I was just being woefully naive! We will hopefully be getting most furniture/equipment second hand from my sister and if it works out with BFing then hopefully the costs will stay down and I can stay at home longer! (fingers crossed!)

INBETWEENER i too work for the nhs.i m recieving 8 weeks full pay,18 weeks half pay with smp.I m returning to work at 6 months as can t afford to stay off .SMP alone won t cover our mortgage.Both me and my DH work full time but he earns a lot less than me soo back to work in March.

Yes, the NHS offers a good mat scheme.What annoys me is that , although, i m returning to work before the end of the 39 weeks of SMP i will loose out on the remaining21 weeks of SMP.Just as i m returning to work and having to pay out an extra £600 per month for nursery fees!!!!!!!!!!

Of course you will lose out! SMP is there to pay you when you are not working following the birth of your child. It's not there as a bonus.

^

the maternity policy at my place is the standard, you get 26 weeks in total, 6 weeks a 90% then the remaining of the 26 at the rate of SMP, im paid monthly so it wokks out some months will be slightly better than others depending on the amount of weeks in the month