Did changing job after qualiifying week affect SMP? Please help!!

[marigoldilocks]

Hello! Please could someone help if they have any experience with this?
I want to start a new job and have staying in my current job long enough to qualify for SMP. I got an email confirming my eligiblity and am 26 weeks so past the qualifying week. I want to work in my new job until the week before my due date.

I am worried about my current employer cancelling my SMP!!! Can they do this??? Is there any way that I can guarentee my SMP . They have sent an email confirming my approval and starting date (which I have asked to me my due date). I dont want to quit my job unless I have guarenteed SMP but I dont want to stay and have a new job lined up already for me to start.

I am really worried about them changing their minds about paying me SMP. Please hlep! What would you do??

If I understand it correctly you wouldn't qualify for SMP if you switched after the qualifying week, but you should qualify for Maternity Allowance, which is about the same amount (although you won't get the original 6 weeks at 90%, the remaining 33wks are about the same). The bigger question would be whether you'd be eligible for any additional benefits your new employer might offer over and above the statutory minimum (vs what, if anything, you'd get from your current employer over and above the minimum if you stayed).

This page explains why you probably wouldn't qualify for SMP if you moved

This page tells you about Maternity Allowance

OK I realise I've misunderstood your question, sorry, you were asking if you'd still get SMP from your current employer if you'd left them and were working for someone else. My gut feeling is that you wouldn't get it (see the line "If you change jobs during your pregnancy, you are unlikely to be able to meet the continuous employment rule. But there are circumstances when your employment can be treated as continuous, even if your employer changes." here

But it does seem a bit unclear ...

Thanks for replying! I am 26 weeks and am still working at old job which has approved my SMP already (if I do leave it wont be until early April).

I wouldnt be eligible for any extra maternity from my new employer but I still want to change jobs.

Im just wondering if even though an employer has said you are eligible for SMP are they able to change their mind? And is their anything I can do to ensure I get paid my SMP from a previous employer?

Crossed posts! Thanks for the link but it is very unclear and I cant find a phone number on that page to call to clarify.

This website address the 'continuous employment' rule which says you have to work at least 26 weeks into the 'qualifying week' which I have done:

www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/specialist-guides/technical-guidance/ni17a-a-guide-to-maternity/statutory-maternity-pay-smp/eligibility/#cont

Is there a helpline that you can call to ask about emplyment/legal issues?

It is quite unclear, isn't it? And it's hardly like you can ask your current employer! You could maybe try the Advice Bureau www.citizensadvice.org.uk/index/getadvice.htm, or JobCentre plus?

It is quite unclear, isn't it? And it's hardly like you can ask your current employer! You could maybe try the Citizens Advice Bureau , or JobCentre plus?

My understanding is that now you've qualified for SMP you can resign/be sacked/get made redundant and they still have to pay you the SMP. Try posting in employment issues though, there's some very knowlegable folk there who will know for sure.