trigger warning- maternity pay

[F1sttimemummy]

Hi.

My friend is 24 weeks pregnant and has found out there is a serious problem with baby. I won’t go into detail but it is very severe.

she works, she doesn’t get sick pay.

If the baby is terminated (please no judgement) will she be entitled to maternity leave? She will have to birth baby. She has two other children and they need to keep a roof over heads but I’m conscious of the fact she will not be ready to go back to work for a long time.

I can find things online about stillbirth and may leave but nothing specific around if that has been terminated or not.

Many thanks

After 24 weeks yes she is absolutely entitled to maternity leave following a tfmr. So sorry she is going through this.

I think if it is after week 24 then yes: maternityaction.org.uk/advice/miscarriage-stillbirth-and-neonatal-death-rights-to-time-off-and-pay-for-parents/#:~:text=You%20can%20get%20SMP%20if,your%20expected%20week%20of%20childbirth.

I have no advice but I'm so sorry for your friend. What a horrible situation 😢 thinking of her xx

Yes (thankfully) if she has reached 24 weeks and has a termination for medical reasons then yes she's entitled to leave and maternity pay as normal.

My next point is a touchy subject and I apologise for not finding the words to say it particularly gently but I struggle with that sort of thing, I'm quite black and white with things but try not to be: lots of people after a loss try again for a baby quite soon after. Something for your friend to bear in mind is if she does this, and catches quite soon then it's possible the qualifying weeks for payment for her next maternity leave might be either lower than the threshold for SMP or just lower in general because she'll not be on full pay while off this time, meaning her subsequent maternity pay can be much, much lower. If she already has two children it might impact her financial situation.

I'm not minimising what she'll be going through but if there's a chance she's planning on trying again soon it may be for financial reasons that she'll want to return to work not long after to ensure she receives the maximum maternity pay if needed again.