NHS maternity pay and sick leave

[Marshall89]

Im a band 5 staff nurse and work for the nhs - we get very good maternity pay. I believe my maternity pay is calculated within the weeks of 17-25 of pregnancy. Im at 25 weeks now. I havent handed in my matb1 form yet but i will be this week. Im opting for the ewual monthly payment scheme. I was hoping to start my annual leave at 34 weeks and my maternity leave at 37 weeks. However, i started with SPD at 20 weeks and im not sure im going to last until 34 weeks.

Will going off sick after 26/27 weeks affect my maternity pay if the qualifying period was 17-25 weeks?? Will they take into account that i have gone on sick after this period and hold it against me pay wise?... i get full sick pay but my money would drop by around 400 a month because the unsocial hours i do. Can they change the qualifying period of assessing my maternity pay on the later weeks i will be off sick? I know they cant enforce my maternity leave until 36 weeks which is fine but juat wondering if it will affect my pay if im off sick from 26 weeks until 36 weeks.

Thank you

No the qualifying period doesn't change - there are some online calculators you can put your due date into that will give you the exact dates.

This link has a lot of info on how it's calculated
www.maternityaction.org.uk/advice-2/mums-dads-scenarios/pregnant-and-benefits/common-maternity-pay-questions/

Thank you... going to check this site out now :)

No your mat pay won't be affected if you go off sick after wk 25. Your weekly pay will be your standard band 5 + any pay uplifts you got during that period, antisocial hours/on-call etc

The only thing it might do is trigger your mat leave to start early, can't remember the exact week but worth looking at the national afc handbook or your local policy

Thanks batman... ive already checked the absence policy and they can enforce mat leave until 36 weeks which is fine because i was starting at 37 weeks anyway. Back to work tomorrow night so in just going to see how i am with it. Hoping i can hold out but not holding my breath.