Maternity leave - not been in the company that long

[lookingforhomemum]

Hi all, this is a hypothetical Q. Thanks for reading my thread!

Unfortunately, I had to take a career break due to burnout but I am now feeling much better and eager to return to work.

I am hoping to start a new job in the new year 2024 but we are also trying for a baby. I know this might be controversial to people with a business, but in all honesty, I am not interested in those opinions (e.g. I have worked hard my whole career hence the burnout, and also having children later in life, as one reason), soooo I would like some input about the following please :)

If I get pregnant before I start the new job, say Dec 2023 and then start work in mid Jan 2024, I think I won't be entitled to the company's maternity leave package because I will fall outside the set number of weeks I need to have worked there to be entitled to it. If that's the case, then so be it. I don't want to delay baby any longer.

But, do you know if there is any other type of maternity leave package or help/entitlement women can get if they don't get the company's full or partial package?

And has anyone had experience where they fell short by a few weeks of the company's "minimum weeks worked" but still got the full maternity leave package, or at least some of it?

I am just working out what will happen to my own personal finances going forward. I intend to return after 6-12 months post birth with family support fingers crossed.

Thank you very much for your help in advance.

You will be entitled to maternity leave, but may not be entitled to maternity pay, either statutory or occupational. If you are not entitled to statutory mat pay, you might be entitled to maternity allowance.

I believe maternity allowance if a similar rate to statutory maternity pay but you have to apply for it and it is paid directly from the government rather than through your company payroll. I am not 100% sure on the eligibility for mat allowance or how it works but I'm sure if you Google it, you will find the information.

It might be worth looking at the criteria for maternity allowance are.

In general, if you don't have a period after starting work, you won't get SMP.

Agree with pp.

You'll get leave but won't qualify for mat pay.

Maternity Allowance is paid at the same weekly rate as SMP for 39 weeks, minus the 6 weeks boosted amount upfront.

You also are entitled to six months of your usual pension contributions from your employer.

Qualification is a little gnarly. The bare bones of it is that you need to have worked 26 weeks out of the 62 weeks before the due date. Out of the 26 weeks, you need to send in payslips covering the highest paid 13 weeks. If this was above the minimum rate, then you get the full SMP weekly amount. Much more complicated of you have mixed modes of employment.

Hope this helps - the office that deal with it are a bastard, but hopefully you'll have 26 weeks in hand at the point you apply!

I had a burnout break myself, just about to go on may leave on maternity allowance!

PPs have explained the pay/leave but wanted to add - don’t worry about what your job at the time may or may not say. I accepted a new job and then found out I was pregnant, not the best timing but I was extremely grateful to have another baby. I waited a few months to tell them as I wanted to prove myself before saying anything and they were absolutely fine about it, in the grand scheme of things it’s a small portion of time out of your career and being pregnant or trying for a baby shouldn’t be a hindrance to what you want to do career wise. Best of luck x

thank you for this. i hadn't heard of MA until this thread, so appreciate this a lot.

thanks to yours and @FallingAutumnLeaf responses.
I think if we get the mat leave at the very least, i'd be mostly happy just because I assume this means my job should be secure for at least a year?

please correct me if i am wrong. thanks again!

the office that deal with it are a bastard

This made me chuckle, so thank you :) Good to know this in particular though! I might have to get my husband to call them if i'm pregnant and very hormonal then! (trying to find some humour with all of this)

Also, I'm sorry to hear you had burnout too. I hope you've been okay and taking the time out for yourself and recovering. for me, it's not been a "break" or "time off". it's literally just recovering from a really awful few years of over-work and my body and mind just said "nope, no more".

I really value my life much more now because of it. my time especially. wishing you a speedy recovery, but even if it's a slow recovery, that you get you back. take care of yourself!

thank you so much. this meant a lot to me to read. I'm trying to say "it'll be okay without that money, at least there will be a job and income while I'm working etc" even though I am still a little concerned, but hopefully we should be okay with some savings. I like that you mentioned proving yourself before you told the company, this is a good reminder, so thank you for this too. I know i'm good at my job and will do the same as you and hopefully make myself proud, more than anything else.

in the grand scheme of things it’s a small portion of time out of your career and being pregnant or trying for a baby shouldn’t be a hindrance to what you want to do career wise.

my husband keeps telling me this to make me feel better, but I know he and yourself are right :)

Congrats on your babies and hoping you're all well. tc

Not quite if you only have 26 weeks leave you will be entitled to return to the same job. Any more and you will be entitled to a "similar" job.

Thank you! I was actually caught on the hop getting pregnant between my "recovery job" (part time work around retraining), and my "new qualification" job.

And you're right - you really do need to spend time recovering, and I made it a priority to get better mentally before I got pregnant.

Luckily after a shitshow of work for a few years, my luck turned. My new employer was happy to take me on knowing that I was pregnant, gave me a payrise after 3 months, and are looking to extend my contract post mat leave - so I really landed on my feet!

Hopefully the whole situation pans out as well for you!

Don't assume that all companies have a qualifying period for enhanced May pay / mat leave - the company I work for has enhanced mat leave entitlement from day 1. I'm not sure how common this is (I assume not super common) but lots of large companies may have policies like this!

Hey yes you can defo get maternity allowance you just need to get your employer to tick the box on the snp form that says hasnt been employed long enough, and have 13 weeks payslips - then you will get maternity allowance. you can get all the forms of the website and do it yourself its not that bad x

You would automatically be eligible for maternity leave. To get SMP you'd need to have been employed for 26 weeks by the time you are 25 weeks pregnant so you cant be pregnant before you start your employment.

You can apply for Maternity Allowance if in the 66 weeks before the baby is due you have worked for 13 weeks and have earned at least £30 in each if those weeks.

https://www.gov.uk/maternity-allowance/eligibility

You’ll get £172.48 a week or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is less) for up to 39 weeks