Work only told me 17 days before I'm due that they wont give me materntiy pay

[Razpoot]

This is stressing me the hell out! They only told me a few days ago (after trying to contact them for weeks about what shall happen with my maternity leave and pay) that they looked at my earnings, and I don't earn enough to get maternity pay! They're expecting me to start maternity leave on the 6th (I'm due on the 17th and my work is starting up again on the 15th, I've been on furlough since March if I'm remembering correctly) and they suggested I get a maternity allowance from the goverment. I've applied for the allowance application by mail as I don't have a printer so now I have to wait for that to come, and there's also documents I need to send out like my MAT B1 which I'm not even sure how I'll get right now as my midwife is on holiday for two weeks. It's going to take so long to get everything sorted.

I can't believe they have left it this late to even warn me of any of this, that they only just realised now I'm not eligible. Is this even legal? Anybody have any advice?

We'll, it's not legal, no. You have to inform them of the pregnancy by 25 weeks, and they have to tell you your pay, and confirm start and end dates of leave, within 28 days. So in theory it should always be sorted before 30 weeks.

I'm not sure what can be done about that now, though. Did you tell them on time? Can they explain why they were so late getting back to you? Maybe check the HMRC pages for some advice on disputes, or contact Maternity Action.

Are you entitled to maternity allowance? I thought this was the fall back if you couldn't get smp.

I don't think I will be entitled to smp as I haven't been on the job long enough (haven't spoken with employer yet tho)

@ILoveStickers

We'll, it's not legal, no. You have to inform them of the pregnancy by 25 weeks, and they have to tell you your pay, and confirm start and end dates of leave, within 28 days. So in theory it should always be sorted before 30 weeks.

I'm not sure what can be done about that now, though. Did you tell them on time? Can they explain why they were so late getting back to you? Maybe check the HMRC pages for some advice on disputes, or contact Maternity Action.

They've known about my pregnancy since I was in the first trimester, can't remember exactly when but it was pretty early on. By the time the furlough started and my work stopped I was about 21 weeks, they never discussed my maternity leave with me at all. Did a risk assessment albiet much later than they were supposed to, and they were completely aware of my pregnancy. I'll check out the HMRC and Maternity Action and see if there's something there that will help, thank you

@Raaaa

Are you entitled to maternity allowance? I thought this was the fall back if you couldn't get smp.

I don't think I will be entitled to smp as I haven't been on the job long enough (haven't spoken with employer yet tho)

Well this is the thing, I'll be able to get maternity allowance but they've told me so late, I feel like they should have told me this at the start not a few weeks before I'm due. I'm trying to get the process sorted out now as soon as I can

@Razpoot They definitely should have dealt with things before now! Although, I believe in order to claim maternity pay it’s your responsibility to make sure you have your MATB1 form handed in by week 25 of your pregnancy. So maybe if they haven’t had the paperwork they need and that’s why they refused it?

Did you give your work your MatB form? They should still have it, save you getting another copy from your midwife.

Why didn't you sort your matb1 form out? This is not something the employer does for you.

Yep, you need to have put your matb1 form in, you get given it earlier in your pregnancy, it was in my works policy document and had it was my responsibility to submit it it time. You should get a copy from your midwife asap, if you are almost due then there will be or her midwives on duty to help, the numbers will be in you paperwork

Did you earn less than £120 per week (when not on furlough)?

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)

To qualify forSMPyou must:

• earn on average at least £120 a week
• give thecorrect notice
• giveproof you’re pregnant
• have worked for your employercontinuouslyfor at least 26 weeks continuing into the ‘qualifying week’ - the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth

If you usually earn an average of £120 or more a week, and you only earned less in some weeks because you were paid but not working (‘on furlough’) under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, you may still be eligible.

They do have my MAT B1 form, I gave it to them as soon as I could. I'm saying I will need another to get a goverment maternity allowance

@dementedpixie

Did you earn less than £120 per week (when not on furlough)?

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)

To qualify forSMPyou must:

• earn on average at least £120 a week
• give thecorrect notice
• giveproof you’re pregnant
• have worked for your employercontinuouslyfor at least 26 weeks continuing into the ‘qualifying week’ - the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth

If you usually earn an average of £120 or more a week, and you only earned less in some weeks because you were paid but not working (‘on furlough’) under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, you may still be eligible.

They gave me the impression I was making enough and I would get maternity pay, but have only now just informed me that they checked and I don't earn enough for it

How much were you earning per week?

but surely you can see how much you were getting paid

They need to return your matb1

The weeks that are taken into account are weeks 17-25 of pregnancy but if you were on furlough for some of that then they should be using your normal wages to calculate it, not your furlough wages

if they really are correct then they need to give you an SMP1 form stating that. If they are as crap as you are describing then I wouldn't be surprised if they were wrong about your eligibility too

Well I'm on a zero hour contract so the pay was always changing, from what they've calculated it must have been on some average about £100 as my 80% furlough pay is about £80 a week. They told me I would still be eligible for maternity pay despite being on a zero hour contract because of how long I had been working there

you won’t have just one midwife surely OP, do you have a central number you can all your community midwives to speak to? Otherwise call your GP, a nurse there can fill one out for you too.

Have they given you the SMP1 form? Ask for your MatB1 back too

No advice to give but thought I'd let you know that I applied for maternity allowance and posted my form last Tuesday and got a letter back today confirm my payments will start from 12th July. So doesn't seem much a wait when you have sent off all the info they need 😊

Maternity Allowance is backdated so if it does take a while to come through you will still be paid it. You can't get 2 MATB1 certificates, work need to give you it back. Are you eligible for a Sure Start grant? Sorry ugly link www.gov.uk/sure-start-maternity-grant

you will need payslips for MA. Choose the weeks that you earned the most to maximise your maternity allowance.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers

you won’t have just one midwife surely OP, do you have a central number you can all your community midwives to speak to? Otherwise call your GP, a nurse there can fill one out for you too.

I've only been speaking to one, doing appointments with one etc. There's a number she gave me before she went on holiday for MAU, I dont know if they could help with that sort of stuff though.

No, I've not been given that. Also Thanks for the paylsip advice, ill do that!

To be fair you should've checked this out yourself.