Teacher Mat leave help

[SWJ90]

I need some help with figuring out my maternity pay entitlement. My current school has me on a fixed term contract (1 year), they wish to renew my contract next year, starting as permanent from September.

my question is, if I were to become pregnant in 2025, will I qualify for occupational mat pay? Or will the 1 year of service as a fixed term employee not count towards this?

As far as I can see on the union website it simply says X amount of months “continuous service”, which is a little unclear.

Second question- how great is the diff between stat pay and occupational? Im worried it won’t be doable without occupational but don’t want to keep waiting and waiting..

There's not enough difference to put off having a baby - I've done it on both and both times was doable. You can ask your HR person for the policy though - they have to keep it confidential.

Definitely ask for your school’s Mat policy - you should be able to find it somewhere that employees can access all policies (like a shared drive somewhere).

As an example, my school’s occupational tops up to 90% of my salary for 6 weeks, then up to 50% for a certain number of weeks (I can’t remember how many off the top of my head). Continuous service doesn’t matter whether that’s perm or fixed term. Definitely check your school’s policy because some are much more generous than others.

I recommend exploring your schools shared parental leave policy. I have just taken my maternity leave as shared parental leave and as a result was paid in full up to 18 weeks and was also paid throughout holidays. Depending on when you have your baby (i.e. at what point in the school year) it can be an excellent financial package.

The problem is, I can’t ask anyone as if I drop the slightest hint that that’s my intention, I think they’ll offer another fixed term contract. I haven’t been offered permanent yet, but I’m trying to secure that as a priority. If I mention I intent to become pregnant, they’ll be less likely to offer perm, as we already have so many staff off on Mat leave.
I’m not sure HR would keep it confidential and I wouldn’t be able to find out if they’d passed on the info irrespective