Maternity Leave- What would you do? (long sorry)

[littlelamb]

I am 26 weeks and have been off work for the past 3 weeks because dd has had chicken pox, i have been in hospital with bleeding and now dd has a sickness and diarrohea bug. It just seems neverending at the moment and its beginning to get me down I think I am slightly depressed, I had antenatal depression with dd and feel similar now. I know that the stress of things right now isn't helping. I am now worried about work. I had thought that my contract allows 10 days full paid sick leave a year but today I have found out that that is not the case, and as a result my pay this month will be pretty much nothing. The prospect of going back is getting me down, even though I really enjoy my job. I know I can start maternity leave at 29 weeks, but it looks like dd will be off nursery for another week which means that by the time I go back I will be 27 weeks and will have been off for a month. I have to go to the doctors tomorrow to get a sick note for the time I've already had off so I can claim SSP, but I am tempted to ask him to sign me off for a further 2 weeks until 29 weeks so I can go straight into maternity leave. Does anyone know how this will affect my maternity pay? Because of the time I've already had off things are going to be a bit tighter anyway, but I really do feel very anxious and depressed, to the extent where I don't know how realistic it is to think about adding to my stress by going back to work. I am a single parent and I work full time, with an hours commute each way, which is stressful enough. I feel a bit of a failure for not feeling up to going back

SMP i believe is calculated over an 8 week period prior to mat leave starting, so i think if your earnings have been low your 90% will be of that low amount (not much at all if only getting SMP). Not sure if it effect statutory £112 or what ever it is a week. Hopefully someone more helpful will come along sone. Sorry things have been so bad for you.

Feel for you Littlelamb. The average earnings are usually worked out from the 8 weeks before the 15th week before your due date (the 15th week is also the qualifying week).

Please check out any other benefits that you may be entitled to that might top up the statutory sick pay you'll receive, or your income in general.

Sorry to hear you've had a rough time, hope it gets better.

jammi I do get working tax credit, but surely I won't get more if I am on ssp will I? I don't really understand how all that works. I still haven't worked out if I will still be entitled to it while on maternity leave, as I rely on it to pay dds nursery fees.

Hi littlelamb, I know nothing about WFTC but here's some info from the inland revenue about the period used to calculate your SMP:

'Your employer must work out your average weekly earnings to find out whether or not you qualify for SMP and, if so, at what rate. As a general rule, your earnings will be averaged over a period of at least 8 weeks up to and including the last pay day before the end of the qualifying week. But the calculation may differ from this, depending on your pay period.'

As you can see, when you get paid affects the 8 week period used so the simplest thing is to ask your employer/HR dept/payroll what your SMP will be.

Hope you feel better soon.