When to tell work I’m pregnant (again)?

[nmwx]

So I’m currently on maternity leave after giving birth in December, but I’ve fallen pregnant again and due in January 😅. When should I tell my work I’m pregnant again? I was supposed to go back at the beginning of November but I want to start my next maternity leave so that I don’t have to go back. Has this happened to anyone else? When did you tell your work that you won’t be going back as planned?

Wow, congratulations!😀

If it were me I'd probably tell them at about the 4 month mark, to give them time to make plans. They might need to put something longer term in place knowing how long you'll be off.

This might be a silly question but do you know how your maternity pay the second time around will be calculated? I ask because I'm hoping to have another myself but couldn't work out how the pay would work!! I know it's 6 weeks at 90% of your average earnings, but if you're on maternity leave already, is that just 90% of statutory maternity pay since that's your recent earnings? Don't worry if you don't know, it's not your responsibility to teach me 😂

Hi, this didn’t happen to me but it happened to a member of my team. She gave around 3 months notice she wasn’t coming back which I appreciated, as it allowed me to talk ti her backfill and keep him on a bit longer. Money-wise, on mat leave (at least where we were) pay rises were calculated automatically (at the point where they were given- march each year) on a middle rating for the months off, and mat pay was given on the basis they came back with that effective pay rate and then usual mat terms. So if a 2% pay rise in march, then mat pay in dec was based on previous wage + 2%

Thank you ☺️

I’m 16 weeks now so in the 4th month but I’m so confused and worried 😅

See with maternity pay I’m super confused because I started my current job whilst I was already pregnant so only worked 5 months before I went on maternity leave so I didn’t qualify for SMP or company maternity pay but I did qualify for maternity allowance. This time around, I’ve checked on the gov website and it seems like I won’t get paid SMP again because I haven’t earned enough, but I’ll only qualify for maternity allowance if I quit my job in time to coincide with when my first maternity leave is due to end (because the paid annual leave at the end of my Mat leave means I’ll have paid enough tax & NI). They make is so confusing!!

As far as I’m aware, each pregnancy is treated the same so as long as you’ve been employed for the 26 weeks and have earned the right amount, you should get paid the normal amount of SMP. If you’re already on maternity leave, it all boils down to how much you’ve been paid and if you’ve remained employed (it’s all about NI and tax). There’s a calculator on the gov website which will tell you what you’re entitled to… https://www.gov.uk/maternity-paternity-pay-leave

Hopefully that helps! ☺️ x

Thanks for your response!

I’m so confused by all the Mat pay stuff because I didn’t qualify for SMP or enhanced pay because I hadn’t been there long enough so I’ve been getting maternity allowance. However, this time around although I’ve remained employed, I’ve technically not earned enough so I don’t think I’ll qualify for SMP or enhanced pay again.

It’s so confusing 🙈