Please help me with maternity leave

[SavannahRose]

Hi

I am currently on maternity leave due to return to work in April, the only thing is I am due another baby on April 6th!

Where do I stand? I have looked on the net but that has confused me even more and I am quite nervous about calling my employer :(

Thanks

Xx

bump!

you could speak to the citizens advice first of all or your union? they should be able to give you an idea of where you stand. You might also want to think about if you will be going back to work after baby number 2 since you will be paying twice the child care fees I've recently found out if i go back to work once bumps here will have to spend my entire wage and take money from my tax credits to pay nursery lunches and travel so there is no point in me working.

What does bump mean?!
X

You will be able to take your new maternity leave I assume but will not be able to get maternity pay. You should probably be entitled to Maternity Allowance, you will have to ask about that at the jobcentre or somewhere else that can inform you about benefits.

Hi,

I think you should still get your leave, mainly your pay will be affected as it is worked out on your basic salary. I think its 8 weeks leading up to the 25th week of pregnancy so basically your average pay from weeks 17-25 if thats right.

Is there any chance you could return to work sooner and have some normal pay before you leave again?

I was pregnant again when I returned from maternity leave (about 8 weeks), and I still got paid, but I do understand you are further gone.

You need to check a page called Maternity Action. They have very good information on their page. I remember reading about your issue.

You will definitely be entiteld to Maternity Leave as you are still employed, not sure about SMP but you'll definitely get Maternity Allowance.

Maternity Allowance is calculated with the 60 or 66 weeks (can't remember which) before your babies birth. So if Baby id due on April 6th go back 60 weeks. Take the 12 weeks with the most income, so I assume that would be the start of your maternity leave now plus some before, and find out your average pay for those 12 weeks. The amount of Maternity Allowance you get is either 90% of that or £128 a week, whichever is lower, for 39 weeks.

BTW bump just means someone has bumped your thread up the list again. If no-one responds it slips down the talk list.

Hello Savannahrose

The other ladies are right - you are of course entitled to maternity leave and the only effect you will see is the pay issue. If you are due on 6 April - your qualifying weeks for mat pay are between 28 October to 16 December. Your earnings during this period will be taken into account to determine your entitlement to SMP next time. If you've paid national insurance then you'll be fine - if you haven't then you may need to claim maternity allowance through job centre rather than be paid SMP through your employer.

Your employer must keep your job available for you for 12 months from when you start your 2nd period of mat leave.

I have def been paying N.I up to now surely it won't stop?

You will be entitled to maternity leave as you are still employed. In order to qualify for SMP you need to earn over a certain amount per week during the 17 - 25 week of preg (ie the 8 weeks before the 25 week befoe your EDD) I was pregnant before I returned fom Mat leave so returned early to ensure I qualified for full SMP for second period of mat leave. HMRC have a very useful website and can advise if you ring them. You are still obliged to submit your MatB1 to your employer even if you are on Maternity leave and if they are unale to pay you SMP they will provide you with the form you need to try and claim Maternity Allowance.

Hi Phone ACAS their number can be found on ACAS.org they are excellent at all aspects of maternity law and they are free and impartial.