Maternity leave confusion?

[5amantha]

Hi all,

I have just found out I am pregnant. A few weeks ago I handed in my notice at my current job to take a 6 month temp role at a better job. This was is all great, but now I have found out I am pregnant I don't know what maternity pay I will get? As I will not be employed when I am due to go on leave. Although the 6 month role was advertised at 6 months likely to go perm. Does anyone have any advice or point me in the direction of some??!! Thanks all,

Is this any help (assuming you're temping via an agency?)

Hey,

No i'm not via an agency. It's a full time role for a 6 month period. (although likely to go perm as advertised) The contract ends in June and I will go on maternity leave mid June - likely.

I do not know then :(

If you're not entitled to SMP then you should be able to claim Maternity Allowance though, which is the same amount as SMP anyway, and still paid for 39 weeks (which I only found out this morning, I thought it was only for 26 weeks )

Ok cool, i'll do some searching around maternity allowance.

Thanks a million :)

You will probably not be entitled to SMP as you will not have completed 26 weeks in your job by 25 weeks pregnant.

However, you will be able to claim Maternity Allowance. It's about £120 a week for 39 weeks, so similar to SMP but without the six weeks at 90%.

You have to be able to prove you have been in employment for a certain number of weeks but you are allowed to have gaps and it doesn't have to be in the same job. This is what I will be claiming as I gave up my job in April and have been doing agency work since June.

direct.gov website will explain the rules and tell you how to claim. It is via the Jobcentre I believe.

@KatAnsKit thanks! This is really useful. I have done some reading and that all makes sense.

Cheers :)

5amantha I claimed Maternity Allowance for my last pregnancy (have been back to work for 3 weeks ). You can pick up the form from Job Centres and although it looks a bit aaaggh, it fairly easy to fill in. You need to provide a sample of 13 weeks of payslips, the Direct Gov website is great and tbh I also got great help from their Helpline.

There is also a copy of the form available to download rather than having to go to the Jobcentre to pick it up :)