NHS Maternity Pay

[Kkgg10]

Hi everyone.
I start my maternity leave within the NHS on 8th March.
I will receive 90% of my earnings for the first 6 weeks - does anyone know if I will receive the unsocial hours I have worked in February on top of this?
Or do I get 90% of them?
I have used the maternity.money page to try to calculate but I it doesn’t allow me to add this option in and can’t seem to find a clear answer anywhere so I was just looking to see if anyone has had previous experience
Thanks

The 90% of your earnings is based on the average you earned (including unsocial pay) during weeks 17-25 of your pregnancy :)
I.e the best way to boost your mat pay is to work as many nights and weekends during those 8 weeks.

Ohh I’ve realised I misunderstood your question.
From what understood when I was sorting out my NHS mat pay is that whilst you’re getting Mat pay there’s a maximum you can take home each month I.E you can’t get paid more than you normally would, so I suspect your unsocial pay will be incorporated into that 90% and not ‘extra’.
But the payroll dept should be able to confirm this (if their any use haha)

Just call or email HR and ask.

@Pilot12 that was my first port of call but they couldn’t help that’s why I posted here for advice from those who have had the experience. Can you advise me of what your experience was? Did you receive it as extra or not?

Thanks @NurseMumma that makes a lot of sense! It’s crazy they don’t just have a clear policy of this is what you will get and when! Xx

Ohh I know it’s a minefield the NHS mat pay policy, I ended up reading it a million times and still had to ask all my colleagues who’d ever been on Mat Leave haha
Luckily my manager was really clued up but I know not everyone’s is! Xx

And in terms of my own experience (I’ve just gone on mat leave) I was off sick leading up to this so I will only get my standard pay anyway, so I’m not much use to you

Hi OP,
If you worked normal hours and nights in February then March would just be a standard pay from what I’ve tried to work out ? Then your mat leave starting in March you will be paid for in April?
I’m not sure if this is correct but there is normally a cut off point a few weeks before payday so it’s like a few weeks catch up if that makes sense?
I might be totally wrong on this but my mat leave started 23rd December prior to which I had 4 weeks of annual leave so waiting for my payslip for January to work out how it’s paid?
Hope this was helpful!

Yeah. It’s so confusing - we get paid March hours in March. So I would get my basic 34.5 hours paid. But our unsociable hours are paid a month in lieu so I get my February unsociable hours paid at my March pay. So I don’t know if I just get 90% of my 34.5 hours a week basic plus the unsociable hours on top or if they only give me 90% of that too. I think that would be pretty mean because I have actually worked those unsocials if you get me! X

You will get paid your unsocial hours for Feb as usual. It will be in addition to your maternity pay as it is for work already done before going on mat leave.

Thank you @Darkstar4855 that’s all I wanted to hear :)! X

Why do you only get 90%? I work for the NHS and I’m on maternity leave - I get full pay for the first 8 weeks.

That’s just what my trust offers @bobble53.
It won’t even be 90% really as I’ve chose to equally spread the payments over 12 months anyway

I also thought the NHS as a whole was full pay 8 weeks, half pay + SMP 18 weeks then SMP for 13 weeks. Providing you've been there a year. That's also what NHS Employers states?

Nope mine is 90% for 8 weeks. 50% + SMP for 18 weeks then SMP 13 weeks then 13 weeks unpaid @Ginandtonic31

May be different depending on what country you are in under NHS? Unsure but that’s definitely what my maternity policy states