Worried about a work issue - advice?

[Newmom2b]

Hi ladies,
I have been TTC since January and was made redundant in April (with 3 months notice). We decided to carry on TTC as you cant predict when these things happen but as luck would have it I am now 7 weeks pregnant and my job finishes at the end of the month.
I have been for several interviews and have been offered a new job. I am very relieved as although I know I wont qualify for SMP I will still get MA.
BUT, having now looked into it I am very worried that I may have a 3 month probation and therefore be sacked once they find out about my pregnancy. My direct line manager is male.
I don't know what I hope from this thread but I really need the MA and wont qualify if they sack me :-(
Am thinking about trying to hide my pregnancy for as long as possible.
What are your thoughts.

They cannot sack you just for being pregnant! Thats discrimination and illegal.
Take the job, work your probation and see what happens. Its up to you whether you tell them about the pregnancy. If they do sack you, they would have to prove its for a non-pregnancy related issue.

Well they can't sack you (or not pass your probation) for being pregnant. If I was advising them I would tell them to think extremely carefully about sacking you for any other reason as well - because of the risk it may look like it was done because of your pregnancy. The probation is a red herring, whether you have one or not makes no difference to the legal position.

All you can do is try to make a good enough impression that they'll want to keep you. If they do get rid of you once they know I would see a lawyer.

sorry cross post there!

You don't need to tell your employer that you are pregnant until ypu are 25 weeks. They can't sack you for being pregnant.

The only thing I would say about not telling them is that it means that if they do sack you they'll be able to say it can't have been the pregnancy as they didn't know. For that reason I would tell them before it's obvious.

Congratulations both on the baby and the job offer.
What type of company is the job offer with?

If it is a large organisation with a proper HR function then you can be fairly confident that HR will step in, make sure that they don't go near a discrimination case and so the pregnancy won't be an issue. Plus they will more easily be able to afford cover/re-shuffle.
If it is much smaller - i.e. probably boss/owner does all hire/fire - then you may need to be more careful. Again they cannot legally fire you for being pregnant... but they are more likely to want to. In this case just be careful with your handling of situation. Maybe consider hiding if an option (probably not given timing), or just be open but positive and helpful.