Maternity Pay

[McKTastic]

Can anyone answer these two qus?

1. if you are off sick during your 25th week of pregnancy (qualifying week) would this affect your maternity pay? I'd be on full pay if I was off.
2. If you're signed off during the latter stages of pregnancy when are work allowed to make you start your mat leave?

I've been given lots of conflicting advice - including from HR at work. Not keeping too well - health of our baby most important but would like to know where I stand.

Thanks if you've any info.

How long have you worked for them if it is more than 26 weeks then it doesnt matter if you're in work or off sick you are still employed by them.

If the sickness is pregnancy related and likely to be long term they can make you start your leave at 29 weeks.If the sickness is not pregnancy related then it is just sickness time.
Not 100% sure about next bit but I think if you have a week here or there for example they can start to deduct this off your total time again from 29 weeks.

~Information is available on DWP and HSe websites

If you are off sick during your 25th week it makes no difference whatsoever to anything.

They can only force you onto maternity leave for pregnancy-related sickness at 36 weeks. As far as I'm aware it hasn't changed from two years ago when I needed to know this.

At 18 weeks I had to go on long term sick leave due to pregnancy issues with my last pregnancy, but my maternity leave was not going to start until 36 weeks. DC2 actually arrived at 35w5d so my maternity leave began from there.

I know you didn't ask, but it may be useful - If you have any sickness insurances/mortgage you can claim on these if you're off sick over a month even if you're still being paid in full by your employer.

I thought they could only make you start maternity leave if illness was pregnancy related in the last 4 weeks of pregnancy.
McK i'm going through similar, i'm 20 weeks but currently signed off due to a cyst, however the cyst was there before the baby so it cannot be said its pregnancy related. Debating the merits of going back to work currently, i'm on full pay luckily.

www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/specialist-guides/technical-guidance/ni17a-a-guide-to-maternity/statutory-maternity-pay-smp/when-smp-is-paid/

Confirms 4 weeks.

"I thought they could only make you start maternity leave if illness was pregnancy related in the last 4 weeks of pregnancy."

Yep this is true as far as I know.

Thanks all. Am going to ask HR to give me their official position in writing. 4 weeks before my due date has a Mon hol - looking at all the blurb if I phoned in sick on the Tues I'd start mat pay on the Wed which isn't far off when I'd finish up if all going well. I'm just not sure what'd happen if I was off the week before too - would it still be the Wed or would they start mat pay on the Sun? Bloody confusing - too much for a pregnant brain & when the money isn't main priority at the mo it doesn't really matter (just know we'll need all we can get when I'm off!)

If its pg related within last 4 weeks prior to mat leave then that kicks in, if not mat related then just sick as usual

you can start mat leave 11 weeks prior to dd at earliest - they cant enforce you tho

Maternity pay is calculated based on your earnings in the eight weeks up to the qualifying week. So, in theory, sick leave during that period can affect your SMP. If you are on less than full pay, it can bring down your average earnings for SMP calculations. The calculation is explained on the government website here.

If you're on full pay, it will make no difference whether it's sick pay or normal pay. And it sounds like you would be sick the week after the calculation period anyway.

The various triggers for maternity pay and leave often get mixed up (sadly, including by HR), they break down like this:

• 15 weeks before the EWC, if you are dismissed or leave after this point, you still get SMP;
• 11 weeks before the EWC, you can start maternity leave;

-4 weeks before the EWC, if you haven't started maternity leave and are off with pregnancy related sickness, your employer can start your maternity leave.

Hope that helps!