Leaving work to move to new city - looking for advice

[HannahBee92]

(posted on the work page but may be more appropriate here on second thought?)

I am currently 15 weeks pregnant with my first and looking to move back to my hometown (permanently) with my partner to be with family before the birth. We are basically starting our lives over fresh as we are not happy where we are now, and neither of us has any friends or family close by. We are pretty miserable where we are now to be honest.

My due date is 10/12/19 and so the qualifying week for SMP is the last week in August. I currently work full time and have done for around 18 months now.

I really hate my job, and so does my partner, so we can't wait to move, and want to leave asap once my partner has secured a job in the new town and I've hit the requirement for the qualifying week to get SMP.

We will be living with my parents for a while when we move so will be pretty much rent/bills free to make up for the loss of my wage. I also have a decent amount in savings as an emergency fund.

A couple of questions:

1. Am I okay to hand my notice in start of August ready to leave in the qualifying week end of Aug, or is that risky? I work in the public sector so notice periods are fairly standard. Mine is 4 weeks.

1. Would it be a terrible idea to leave earlier than my qualifying week and only be able to claim MA rather than SMP? (can you tell we are desperate to leave?)

I don't plan to return to the same career after the birth, and will be looking at working more flexibly/ being self-employed.

If anyone has been in a similar position I would love to know how it went for you, any lessons learnt, anything you wish you'd done differently etc

TIA :)

In order to get smp, you need to be employed by that company when you go on mat leave. Otherwise, you'd simply be quitting an not going on maternity leave...

Generally, the earliest you can start mat leave is at 29 weeks (11 weeks before edd).

Whether or not to sacrifice the 90% for 6 weeks is up to you!!! Depends on how much you get paid I suppose. If it wouldn't be much more than the approx £150 a week you'd get on ma, go for it! Life's too short!

You can still get SMP after leaving your job OP - you're right, you do have to be employed during your qualifying week though to claim. Once the qualifying week has been completed, you can leave, go on long-term sick, even be dismissed and your employer will still be legally obligated to pay SMP. I looked into this extensively recently with a previous employer - details here: maternityaction.org.uk/advice/resigning-from-your-job-during-pregnancy-and-maternity-leave/

A notice period would ordinarily be counted as working time when it comes to assessing your qualifying week (so if it falls in a notice period, it still counts) but it depends on your employer and whether they would pull anything on you. If they were to pay you in lieu of notice for example, then your employment would terminate then and there and if it's before your qualifying week, you'd not be eligible. It depends on whether they have a history of paying people off/putting them on gardening leave, or if people usually work out their whole notice if that makes sense?