Maternity pay - contract confusion!

[ilovegin18]

Hi,

I'm hoping someone might be able to help. I have been with my employer for 14 months. 2 months into my pregnancy I received a promotion (staff support role in a school to teacher) resulting in a new contract but same county council employer & department.

When it comes to maternity pay, I will only have 7 months service on the new contract so won't be eligible for enhanced mat pay but will I qualify for SMP?

Sorry if this is confusing, I'm hoping someone will have been in a similar situation and can advise. Thank you

New role makes no difference. It’s the length of service with your employer which matters.

The two consecutive contracts are counted as the same employment by the same employer, so you'll be entitled to more. I'd check Maternity Action for your rights.

As long as you didn't have a break of more than 5 days between role 1 and role 2 it counts as continuous service and you'll get enhanced mat pay.

Thank you all for the confirmation.
@overagain I’m not sure I am eligible for teachers enhanced mat pay as I haven’t got long enough service by a few weeks? Prior to this I was employed by the school on a support staff contract (enhanced mat pay package is much better). Thanks again

Enhanced pay is at an employer's discretion so it depends on what their policy is. You need to ask for a copy of it and see. I don't think it's something we can answer as it would vary from employer to employer (although there may be some standard things for all education trusts)

There's a thread in Employment Issues from a group specialising in maternity legal advice - I'd post on there and they can give you a clear answer.

Ok that’s great - thank you!