NHS, Sickness and Maternity Pay. Can anyone advise?

[Writerwannabe83]

Morning all, not sure if there are any NHS workers about, but if so I'm hoping someone might have some words of wisdom.

I'm currently 14 weeks pregnant and have already have 4 weeks off work with sickness. I have not started having issues with bleeding and my Clinical Lead is being fantastically supportive!! However, due to current issues and ongoing health problems I have she has passed comment about me staying off now until the baby is born! I'm not sure my GP will agree (who I'm seeing this afternoon) but I'm pretty sure I'm going to be signed off for at least another 6 weeks.

I hadn't really thought about whether sickness affects maternity pay but my mom said it probably would.

Any ideas??

I think it will automatically trigger your maternity pay four weeks before due date so you will have no choice about starting it later. You should get six months on full pay while off sick which then reduces to half pay. I doubt it would affect your maternity pay but don't know - check your policy?

Good luck at GP today. I'm going tomorrow to ask to be signed off with sickness, I'm a teacher and not coping at all. Early pregnancy can be horrendous. Hope you feel better soon.

If you are fully paid for sick leave it won't affect your SMP however occupational pay may be affected, you need to check with your HR.

It might vary by trust or role - but I thought the OMP component is based on what your actual pay was during 'qualifying weeks' which are somewhere between approx 4-6 months pregnant.

So if you're on any sort of leave which reduces your net pay then this would lower your 'full' and 'half' pay calculations in maternity leave. Conversely, I've heard of people in roles where you can doing loads of overtime during these weeks to boost their pay.

They can also turn your 'sick leave' if pregnancy related into 'maternity leave' at a 36 weeks.

Hi, agree with MorganLeFey. I also work for the NHS and am 17 weeks. I've been trying to figure out how it all works too. So far the general consensus is that maternity pay is worked out on your earnings (before tax and other deductions) between weeks 15 and 24 of your pregnancy, so if you are earning less on sick leave then you will be affected. Conversely if you do some locum work it will boost your maternity pay. The best thing to do is phone payroll, they've certainly helped me out with a few quibbles and, at least down here in Devon, seem to know what they're talking about.

Best to speak to your HR. It is all very complicated. For me, HR have had to look at agenda for change, the pct Trust that I used to work for before the nhs reforms m and the generic sickness policy through our CSU. Even then, it isn't clear how pregnancy related sickness affects maternity, so the person I spoke to is seeking further advice!

all i know is that if ur on the sick ur maternity leave will start 4 weeks before edd and am sure ive read something about weeks 15-24 been qualifying weeks for omp cause i mind thinking to myself i better not b sick!lol trusts vary slightly am from northern ireland our trusts tend to be a bit backward

Thanks everyone for your advice and thoughts. I have managed to download an NHS Maternity Pay booklet but to be honest it is probably confusing me more. I'm one of those people that like things explained to them in simple forms

I will speak to my boss about it tomorrow as the Policy mentions something about loads of paperwork needing to be done by the 15 week stage to make sure everything goes smoothly and I get what I'm entitled to etc but and I haven't done anything like that!!

I meant payroll earlier, not hr. Although Hr can tell you what you are entitled to, but not about money.

I think the policy means 15 weeks before edd (i.e 25 wks pregnant). Hope you get it cleared up about pay. It is complicated!

Yeah, you have to give them notice of your intention to take Mat Leave by ~25/40 unless not 'practical' to do so till later.

I didn't officially tell mine till after 20 week scan & they need the MatB form anyway which you probably won't get till around then or later.

(As a slight tangent - even if things are supposedly straightforward there seems to be a high chance of Payrolls messing it up..! Good thing I had some quickly accessible contingency money when mine failed to pay me anything at all (not even statutory?!) for the first 2 months. )

Good advice morgan, i will put some money aside just in case it all goes wrong.