Furlough & Maternity Pay

[locksmithg]

Hi everyone !

I'm due in November and I'm currently being furloughed and will be going back to work in June.

As I'm only in my second trimester and looking at the guidelines I'm happy to continue to work but I am slightly confused with the furlough and how my maternity pay will work out. Will my maternity pay work out on furlough or what my current wage would be if that makes sense ?

Also I'm slightly confused with our third trimester and guidance with Covid , are many of you working towards the end to your due date or will you leave as early as you can going into your third trimester ?

Maternity pay is calculated based on your average wage in the 8 weeks leading up to your 25th week of pregnancy. In theory that means it will be based on your Furlough pay (so 90% of the 80% if your get statutory). However, this is obviously new ground and that calculation doesn't seem fair so I'd want to get advice on that and home the government put something into place to prevent the reduced maternity pay that would follow furlough.

I was also worried about this, but have read an article from Martin Lewis money expert that has said Mat pay will be calculated with your average earnings, not based on furlough earnings

I also wondered this as I’m due in October, check out the Martin Lewis page, a rule was brought in back in April that maternity wouldn’t be affected so you’ll have 90% of you average earnings before furlough 😊 congratulations by the way!

Due September and was worried about this too, but as PPs have said guidance has been published to say that it will be calculated on your average normal wage not the furlough wage! So that's good

www.gov.uk/government/news/furloughed-workers-to-receive-full-parental-leave-entitlement

Google!

Hello I've recently found out I'm pregnant and currently furloughed potentially until October! would this affect anything maternity pay wise? I'm due in January and potential would take maternity leave in November so I'm unsure how it works, would my employer still pay me etc as I technically would only be back for a month. Thankyou x

It's definitely off your average pay before furlough, the government maternity calculator has been changed to say this:

For leave starting after 25 April 2020: if they earned less than usual in any weeks because they were ‘on furlough’ under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, you can use what they would have earned normally.

So if you get anything on top of the statutory pay in your contract that might be different but SMP should be the same.

Place marking - potentially the same situation here - due in early Nov. Currently furloughed until 31st May - but it may clearly be extended after the new announcements. (Slight difference for me is that my organisation are topping up the missing 20% difference in salary at the moment which is wonderful - they are a great company to work for - but I honestly can't see that being sustainable for much longer!) I asked this question to HR and my LM at the very start of the furlough process and right now they don't know the answer. Hoping that some proper guidance on this will be forthcoming soon!

With furlough now extended to October , will woman in the third trimester be furloughed or asked to go on mat leave early or would they work to the end of the pregnancy?

I'm not sure what the actual guidance is , need to financially plan the end of the year , but good to know that furlough won't affect tour maternity pay.

@locksmithg from what I understand with the guidance, is they suggest working from home or if not possible having a discussion with your employer.
I checked and I can start maternity leave from week 30 so if you got on mat pay then perhaps you can use holidays for the first week or two of the trimester or take leave.

I'm not sure how correct this is but I was furloughed during my qualifying weeks to calculate SMP, I was furloughed at 100% for this as my work didn't think it would be fair for me to be penalised even more further down the road. I am however now out of the qualifying weeks so my furlough is down to the standard 80%.

@locksmithg I suspect there will be more pressure on employers to allow their staff to WFH after July when they’ll be expected to make a contribution to the furlough payment.

I’ve been WFH for several weeks now and my preference would be to keep that up until Mat leave at 38w. Financially it would be most beneficial, and would enable me to continue performing in my role - hopefully a win/win for me and my employer! I’d really rather not be furloughed at all, if it can be helped.

I work in a customer facing role and will provide us with some Ppe next month so the option of me working from home is a no 😟

I think I'm just going to have to go on Mat leave at 30 weeks , just hope there is some clearer guidance soon

As you'll be in the third trimester by then the rules may change? As aren't we only classed as vulnerable after 28 weeks?

I could be wrong!

I've been furloughed but I have a feeling now it's been extended until October I'll be furloughed until the end of July when I plan to start my holidays & then Mat leave ..

@Babyshine2020 yes your right just need to wait to see I guess

@Babyshine2020 pregnant women are classed as medically vulnerable the whole way through pregnancy. The advice seems to be that social distancing is more important in the third trimester, but to be honest at the moment there just isn't enough data about it for them to know with any certainty what long term effects are etc.

@Lazydaisydaydream ah ok! I've been reading a lot of conflicting information as as far as I knew originally it was everybody and then it went to 28 week+ but a lot of the "trusted" sources haven't updated since March/early April