Does maternity pay start when you go off work or when the baby comes?

[Caz10]

A colleague of mine went off 4 weeks before baby was due, it is now 2 weeks late so has she lost 6 weeks of her maternity pay?!

My maternity leave (fingers crossed, fingers crossed, 9 wks and waiting for scan!) is going to be REALLY tight financially, and if that happened to me I think I'd be back at work before baby was 3 months! Can't think of anything worse, but also working right up to your due date must be pretty awful too. Does anyone know how this works?

By the way, she didn't go off sick or anything, that was just the date she had agreed for leaving.

Maternity pay starts when you go on maternity leave. Technically if you go overdue your baby will be younger when maternity leave ends.

IIRC she hasn't lost it, but it will mean that she we have 2 weeks less with baby at home, because her return to work date won't change because the baby is late - that's calculated from the day you start your maternity leave.

Ahh good, we're in agreement, mears!

When you go off work if you leave work within 11 weeks of your due date.

I agreed to leave 1 week before DD2's due date.

She arrived 8 days before her due date, and I'd only been off work a week before that.

And it sucked.

VERY, VERY badly.

But like you, I dind't really have a choice.

I also had another child at home to look after in the evenings whilst DH worked.

And I'm not a young woman, either.

Hence, we're stopping at 2.

maternity pay information

Maternity pay will start from the date that you agree to leave work unless you can add some annual leave on the front. It is a risk that you take if your baby goes over due. I originally said I would work until as late as possible so as to have more time with the baby afterwards but I'm actually leaving this Friday (yay!) 5 weeks before due date as I just couldn't face working any longer. Don't know what you do for a living, but I just have a desk job and it's still been really hard work.

I just decided I didn't want to be burnt out and wanted to be prepared for the baby rather than it all be really last minute and not feel ready. You'll just have to weigh up how you feel nearer the time. Perhaps better to have a shorter time and enjoy it more...

Sorry, bit of a ramble but hope that helps!

Sorry, I just re-read my post and realised I didn't word it very well - I don't mean that she has "lost" her maternity pay, rather -
will she be receiving it even though the baby has not arrived?

For my own situation I'll get 6 weeks on 90% pay then the rest on SMP which will be very very tight. So I want to be earning my "normal" wage for as long as possible, because as soon as the 6 weeks is up it's a ticking timebomb as to how long I can stay off on SMP!

Has anyone on here worked quite close up to their due date? I am a teacher by the way, so it is quite an active job and certainly no snoozing behind a desk possible!!

yes, she'll be receiving it even though baby hasn't arrived.

i worked until a week before my second baby was born.

i wouldn't have if i hadn't had to, but i really didn't have an option as i wanted as much time as possible AFTER she was born.

wow you guys are fast! lots of posts in the time it took my to type one!

thank you for all your replies. My friend worked up to her due date too and said it was a nightmare, she was physically struggling to get around the building. I guess I'll need to wait and see how I feel nearer the time.

How long did you manage to take off expat?

With a fortnight of annual leave, 18 weeks.

Urg it is not long is it, based on our situation at the moment (ie no lottery win!) i think I will be about the same. Looking into taking a mortgage break etc but don't want to just push the debt forward!
I am already feeling guilty about it but I know it can't be helped. Very lucky in that dh works shifts, so childcare costs will be smaller than for most people, also dc will be with him more often than with someone else. (just not me...boo hoo)

When are you due Caz? If you are a teacher are there any holidays either side of your leave, and if there are holidays while you are off do you get them in lieu? I get an extra 5 days for the public holidays that fall in my mat leave?

Hi Caz10 - everyone has pretty much said what I would have re: mat pay. The link given further down this page is definitely worth a look.

I started a thread a while back about when people recommend starting maternity leave. I will save you the bother of having to find it by saying that unsurprisingly there's a huge variety of opinions/experiences. Some people want to leave early/find it difficult to work right up to the end. Others have had no problems working up to the wire. I think it all depends on your health, financial situ, and where you want to spend the time... After reading everyone's input I decided to leave work at about 38.5 weeks. However I've kept some annual leave in case I feel a lot worse then than I do now (31 weeks). I'm lucky to have a sedentary job, compact bump, easy journey to work... I should stop now before I jinx myself!

Good luck with your planning. Whatever decision you make will be the best one possible under the circs. I think that's all any of us can do.

I worked up until 2weeks before with all DC, mainly cos I felt okay and wanted as much time off with them. I think it really does depend on how you feel. I am currently on maternity leave and things are really tight for us.
We overpaid our mortgage in the months before I left work so then it reduced whilst I've only been getting SMP (which is not enough IMHO!!!) We are really struggling now but my maternity leave finishes in 3 wks, however I've taken 3 wks annual leave at the end so I get more time off.
Good luck x

I worked til 2 weeks before due date and could easily have worked the week after as I felt fine! (But my boss wouldn't hear of it). However, I was on a really cushy number where I worked from home full-time (lived in Suffolk, job was in Leeds) so could have plenty of rest time on the spare room bed whenever it was needed. Couldn't have coped with any kind of active job / commuting.

With DS1 I was on bed rest for the 4 weeks before he was born and my maternity pay started as soon as he was born - I had normal pay up to then.

That was good that your employer didn't enforce the start of your mat pay Annobal. It's standard that if you are signed off with any (even remotely) pregnancy-related ailment in the weeks before pregnancy your company has the right to enforce the start of your mat leave, no matter when you had hoped it to begin. This is supposed to 'discourage' pg mothers using up paid sickness entitlement plus mat leave I believe. Charming eh?!

I was planning to start my maternity leave at 39 weeks with DS1, because like many it would have been tight financially to take too much time 'off' on maternity pay without the baby.... But unfortunately DS1 had to be delivered at 30 weeks (due to pre-eclampsia) and my maternity pay had to start the day he was born. He then spent 9 weeks in hospital, so I felt just a little cheated of my maternity leave. I guess what I'm saying is that don't always depend on your plans- things can go differently. I am now self-employed & planning to work right up to when the baby comes or I go into hospital (29 weeks now) as maternity benefit is equivalent of SMP only....

Good luck everyone xxx

Caz - I haven't read all the thread fully so apologies if I'm repeating here.... You can save up annual leave to take before you start your maternity leave. By law you're entitled to all of your annual leave for the year (as long as you have worked for the employer for a certain amount of time - I think it's 26 weeks but not sure).

I'm taking 3 weeks annual leave (weeks 36-38)before my maternity leave starts, which means I'll start my maternity pay one week before the baby's due IYSWIM!

Obviously if the baby comes early, my maternity leave will automatically kick in on that date, so I think in that case I'd lose my annual leave...

Babylovesmuffins - if that was the case, surely you would get to keep your A/L and tack it on the end of your maternity leave?

I took my AL before I started my Maternity Leave - my EDD is the 5th June, but my last day at work was on the 1st April (2nd is when I actually finished though). I took my Annual Leave in April, and my Maternity Leave started at the start of last week.

Of course DC3 could be late - and then I'll 'lose' time at home with him, but I'm glad I quit when I did as working nights in a Care Home were killing me.

My SIL started her maternity leave 8 weeks before the baby was due, so that she could - as she put it - really enjoy the leave before the baby came along to spoil everything (This was her third). She was planning to take quite a long period of unpaid leave after the end of maternity leave, though - then my brother moved to China and she had a fleet of servants to look after all of her children, so spent most of her maternity leave swanning around playing tennis and having pedicures

Hi Bumperlicious - just read your post. in our firm the annual leave policy is "use it or lose it"!!

I'm due in August and am planning to go back to work in May/June 2008. We're not usually allowed to carry annual leave over to the following year, so the lawyers have advised that I need to take all my leave before my maternity leave starts.

I normally get 25 days leave (contractual) but when I return in May/June 08, I'll still be entitled to 20 days leave (statutory) before December 08 - even if I take a full 52 weeks maternity leave and don't return to work until August 08, I'd still be entitled to another month's annual leave - fab!!