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Original poster

What's your works maternity pay policy?

46 replies

fanfan18 · 20/03/2019 11:39

We've been saving as much as possible for the last few months to last through my maternity leave.

My company follow the statutory rules for maternity pay so I get 90% of my average weekly earnings for 6 weeks and then SMP for the remaining 33 weeks - £145 a week.

I currently earn about £2k take home a month so it's a big drop in income. I was just looking through my old company policy and they pay 26 weeks on full pay!

Does your company offer over and above the law or do they stick to SMP?

Just curious :)

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HouseplantInvasion · 20/03/2019 11:40

Mine is SMP only

JustHereForThePooStories · 20/03/2019 11:42

26 weeks full pay, and no minimum service period before you can get this.

welshweasel · 20/03/2019 11:43

8 weeks full pay, 18 weeks half pay plus SMP. NHS.

Jxtina86 · 20/03/2019 11:45

13 weeks full pay and then SMP for 26 weeks.

Theseptemberissues · 20/03/2019 11:45

6 weeks full pay, 12 weeks 50% pay +SMP then 21 weeks SMP

LeslieYep · 20/03/2019 11:48

Civil service. 30 weeks full pay, then 9 weeks of SMP, leaving a further 17 weeks unpaid if I want to take it.
Accumulate my annual leave while I'm off too. One of the main reasons I've stayed in this job!

Original poster
fanfan18 · 20/03/2019 11:55

Thanks everyone, quite a broad spectrum of different policies out there!

OP posts:
NoMorePeppa · 20/03/2019 11:59

NHS. 8 weeks full pay. 31 weeks 90% pay.

They changed this in April 2018, just before I went on mat leave. Before that it was 8 weeks full pay, 12 weeks half pay plus SMP then 19 weeks SMP.

Seniorschoolmum · 20/03/2019 12:00

Statutory minimum here too.

OhSoSiriusly · 20/03/2019 12:02

When I left for maternity leave, my company gave 6 weeks full and then went to SMP. I'm currently at the end of SMP, so the remainder of my leave will be unpaid. After I left, they changed the policy so that it is now 13 weeks paid and then SMP. Because my child had already been born, we didn't qualify for that. SMP was a significant drop for me also, so we had to make sure we had enough savings to cover what I would normally have earned, otherwise it would have been a struggle to pay the bills

slapmyarseandcallmemary · 20/03/2019 12:03

SMP only.

Letsnotargue · 20/03/2019 12:09

Large manufacturing company (quite antiquated in some ways) 26 weeks full pay, 26 weeks current SMP rate. I was amazed when I saw that, and it was certainly a plus point when considering the role.

BillyAndTheSillies · 20/03/2019 12:18

My last maternity was 12 weeks full, 12 weeks at 50% and the remainder SMP. Because my payments were made based on an average pay in the three months leading up to me taking maternity and I worked on a quarterly commission bonus, I ended up better off on maternity than actually in work.

They recently changed it to full pay for the entirety if you'd been there longer than five years.

Current job, SMP from day one. Dreading it. Would be surprised if I can afford to take more than three months this time around.

Feyre · 20/03/2019 13:46

I'm entitled to SMP only, yet it is really annoying where I work as it is a company that has taken over other companies, so contracts vary. For example my colleague who I sit next to gets 6 months full pay then 3 months half pay, as that was her original contract.

Thenameisweasley · 20/03/2019 13:51

@NoMorePeppa I'm NHS too and we still get the old amount you quoted, I thought we all got the same?!

greenflamingo · 20/03/2019 13:53

SMP only.

kelly14 · 20/03/2019 13:56

12 weeks full pay, rest SMP.
Some people have fantastic maternity!

PuzzlingPuzzle · 20/03/2019 13:57

With my first I lived in the UK I had 12 weeks at full pay, 12 weeks at 50% then statutory. Now I’ve moved to the US and the women of the office are celebrating the fact that our leave policy just doubled from 6 to 12 weeks. It’s pathetic (the policy not my colleagues). I’d be so grateful to even have statutory.

pumpkinpie01 · 20/03/2019 13:59

I was on the standard, but found that I was being given tax back every month which was great.

mrsk28 · 20/03/2019 14:04

26 weeks full pay (minus the amount the state gives you each week) then I'll use 4 weeks annual leave and some unpaid time to take the rest of this year off. Baby due in 5 weeks 😁

SherlockSays · 20/03/2019 14:10

NHS so I got:
8 weeks - full pay
8 weeks - 6 months - half pay + SMP
6-9 months - SMP only

Just on my last month of SMP which has been tough but we've done OK without any savings (but had decent pay most of the way through, my full time salary is similar to yours). Doing KIT days in this last 3 months has topped up my salary loads.

SherlockSays · 20/03/2019 14:13

@Thenameisweasley it depends which contract you're on, my cousin had maternity leave at the same time as me but had the old policy so got more than me because she's been there longer. She was on the older (better) maternity pay package.

Thenameisweasley · 20/03/2019 14:16

@SherlockSays I thought the whole point of banding and agenda for change was that we all get the same! I'm in northern Ireland though where our pay is lower than the uk also

NoMorePeppa · 20/03/2019 14:50

@Thenameisweasley I thought it varies by trust? I'm not too sure. I have been employed as a staff nurse since 2013. I didn't know the mat policy had changed until I was given my mat leave contract and I compared it to my last one (2016).

We also accrue all PH and AL while on leave. I've saved 4 weeks to take at the end of my paid segment. The remaining 3 months I can do bank shifts as this is unpaid. I'm taking AL and parental leave (paid) instead.

NoMorePeppa · 20/03/2019 14:52

Meant to add I'm in central Scotland