HR advice - going back to work pregnant

[excitednerves]

Hi - any HR people around?

I’m currently on maternity leave and found out that I’m pregnant. I’m meeting my boss next week for a KIT day and will tell her - I’ll be 8 weeks then. I can’t think of any reasons not to tell her, she’s a great boss and as I’ll only be going back for a few months, I don’t want to mess her around.

My main question is - what week of pregnancy do I need to return to qualify for full mat pay again? I think it’s around week 16? And if I use annual leave for a few weeks, does that count as having “returned”?

Thank you!

For SMP it's the average of your earnings between weeks 17-25. Yes you have returned to work if you're on annual leave.

If your company pays above SMP you'll need to check the policy to see if you qualify.

Thanks @Shelley54 that’s really helpful. I’ll dig out the maternity policy to double check but I think they pay enhanced pay based on the same rules.

I'd check your policies - I had a colleague who had to work (either work or annual leave) the weeks required to covered the enhanced pay from their prior mat leave before working the number of weeks to qualify for their next mat leave. A friend who had two close together had to shorten first mat leave in order to qualify for the second period of mat leave.

Are you sure about telling her so early? You absolutely don't have to legally or morally and it might make things more difficult for you if the pregnancy is unsuccessful.

The only thing I would say about returning on annual leave if it’s during your qualifying period is that you won’t be getting any unsocial hours payments or extras if you usually get those which may affect your maternity pay calculations.

My company is pretty generous with maternity pay but here you have to be back 12 months by the time you're 25 weeks pregnant to qualify for a second full maternity package. If you really can go from one to the other as you suggest, then they're exceptionally generous. Just make sure you have a look - you're already pregnant so it's not a decision about how long to go back for, but knowing what money will come in helps you to plan.

@Colouringinbook - yes I’ll need to go back just before 11 months to be there at 17 weeks.

@Bienentrinkwasser just a standard office job so no extras to worry about but good point. Thank you.

@Shelley54 thank you. I know we don’t need to pay any back even if we don’t return to work but I’ll have a double check on enhanced pay criteria.

Thanks everyone!