Company has two different Maternity Pay Schemes

[lionsleepstonight]

Hi,

My company runs two different maternity schemes, one is statutory only, the other is enhanced. We were tuped over a few years back and apparently only entitled to the statutory scheme. Others in the same team as me, have been employed after me and have the enhanced scheme. Work cannot seem to find any documents that detail the statutory scheme. Can I insist on the enhanced scheme? I am struggling to think of what angle to come from. Is this in any way discriminatory?

Hmmm. Because of the TUPE issue it's complicated. You would probably need to ask Maternity Action or Citizens Advice (they both have helplines you could call). But if I was to guess I'd say it depends on your employment contract. If your contract says statutory, that's what you get. Your employer doesn't really need to provide documentation because all the information about statutory maternity benefits is publicly available, on gov.uk as well as the Maternity Action and Citizens Advice websites.

What is the enhanced package, out of interest?

Thanks for the swift response, it's 14 weeks at full pay.

Also, both schemes are non contractual, apparently T's & C's. (if that makes any difference)

No that doesn't make any sense I'm afraid! Please can you explain?

My company rums at least 2 mat packages depending on when you joined, if you were tuped in. I believe you will struggle to get any more than is in you contract.

What I meant was the maternity scheme benefits are not in our contract documents, they are referenced in our terms and conditions document, which includes any items that can be withdrawn without notice. However work cannot currently produce the document that shows I am on the stat one.

I'm pretty sure terms and conditions are the same as a contract. They might be on a different piece of paper but they are part of your agreement (=contract) with your employer.

Namechange is correct. The company I run the payroll for had four different sets of T&C's. They also are dependant on when you joined the company.

Unless you signed over to the new company's T&C's then you will be paid mat pay based upon the rules of your old company. Looking at what other people are entitled to wont help because your contract is different to theirs.

Are you already pg or are you ttc?
If you aren't pg yet, you could ask to be transferred over to the non-TUPE contract - but are there benefits and entitlements in other areas that you would lose by such a change?

It's not discrimination for them to do this, it's perfectly legal and even quite decent of them if, for example, TUPEd employees are getting a much better pension than non-TUPEd and they are giving the non-TUPEd better terms in other ways to compensate.

Way back in the day (1980s) I was a union safety rep, I worked in the NHS and there were at least 3 possibly 4 different versions of statuary ML depending on how long you had worked, hours worked etc etc.

The unions were campaigning for all employees to get the best package, ie most time off at full pay. The argument which actually won them this was the cost of administering the different schemes.

It was actually cheaper to give everyone the 'enhanced'' scheme than employ someone to sort out which scheme you were on. It might be worth talking to your employer about this, particularly if they can't find your personal t and c - how much ££ have they wasted trying to find it?

Thanks everyone for you replies - not what I wanted to hear but at least I know it's correct!

I'm sorry to hear this lion.

I was TUPEd into my company 3 years ago but luckily my old employer's maternity package is better, which I am still entitled to despite being paid by new employer.