Maternity leave

[jadelouis97]

Hi I need some help, I'm 21 weeks pregnant with my first child and I have been off work now for pregnancy related problems due to doctor not wanting me to work at all so at the minute I am currently getting sick pay, my maternity leave can start at the end of September but I'm worrying that I won't get any help whilst I'm off maternity leave (maternity pay) I'm just wondering if you will be able to shed some light for me as I'm really stressing about money

I think it depends where you live/your employer. I live in Canada and women get a year of mat leave at 55% of their salary. I work for the Canadian government and get a top up to 85% for the year.

If you're in the UK, have a read of this link

www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/pay

Hope this helps

As long as you're currently on a standard contract (and have been working there for longer than a few months) you will still get maternity pay. The only thing is, they calculate the 90% bit based on a particular period of time before you went off - so if you've been bringing in a bit less, then you might lose a little bit of money for the first six weeks. Unless you are a high earner I wouldn't have thought it would make very much difference to the overall amount you end up getting. I believe this is the case for SMP, if you have any enhanced maternity pay then that bit would depend upon your employer x

It's your wages between weeks 17-25 that helps calculate the 90% figure for the first 6 weeks of maternity leave. Are you getting statutory sick pay or company sick pay as if it is stat sick pay and you are receiving it in those qualifying weeks then you may not meet the minimum earnings for SMP. If you don't qualify for SMP then you could claim Maternity Allowance

Once you have figured out if you are eligible, there is quite a handy maternity pay calculator www.maternity.money