Maternity Pay - what does your employers offer?

[Vallmo]

Hi ladies,

I am trying to benchmark my company's maternity policy when it comes to "topping up" statutory maternity pay and am wondering if you don't mind telling me who you work for and what enhanced maternity pay your employer currently offers. All answers will be very much appreciated!

Thanks a lot!

You ought to tell us who you work for and what your company currently offers... sometimes when the poster doesn't give much info I think uh-oh, it's a journalist looking for quotes

Not a jounalist at all... I work for a company called Alecta (Swedish pension fund) and they currently offer 13 weeks full pay. The office where I work is very small (only 3 people) and I have not yet broken the news of my pg which is why I didn't put the company name out there in the original post.

12 weeks full pay, then 12 weeks half pay, then statutory for the remaining time. Plus we get two weeks paid parental leave (out of the 13 weeks total).

A pretty good deal really!

8 weeks full pay then 18 weeks half pay plus SMP, then the rest is just SMP. NHS. You have to pay back the 'extra' if you don't go back and work for 13 weeks after ML finishes.

8 weeks fulll pay, 16 weeks half pay+SMP, then SMP for the the remainder. I work for a University. We also have to pay back the non-SMP part if we don't go back to work.

i work at a Russell Group Univeristy and we get

18 weeks leave on full pay, followed by 21 weeks SMP (totalling 39 weeks paid leave);

or

12 weeks leave on full pay, followed by 12 weeks leave on half pay, followed by 21 weeks leave on pay at a rate equivalent to the current level of SMP (totalling 45 weeks paid leave)

I got 90% of salary for 6 wks then SMP for rest! total crap really. I am a nurse and work in general practice had i been working in hospitals pay would have been so much better. I think it's a shame that there can be such a difference in pay deals for mothers. Lets hope the european government decide to increase SMP! ;-(

Lib76 - Same for me, absolutely nothing more than the statutory minimum they're forced to hand out

6 weeks at 90%, then 12 weeks at 50%, then SMP and also childcare vouchers continue - work in a professional services firm in London and this is less generous than my previous employer, but where I am now has a stepped policy, if I'd been there longer I would have got more.

I work for BT. We get 18 weeks full pay, 8 weeks at 50% pay, and then 26 weeks at the equivalent of SMP. I'm not sure how long they have to pay SMP, I think they pay it for longer than they are required to.

Just SMP (90% for 6 weeks, then SMP for the rest). This was working for a smallish (50 employee) private surveying practice. I had been there 14 years when I first went on ML.

State primary school in Hackney: 12 weeks full pay, 2 weeks 90%, 12 weeks 50% which is 26 weeks, then entitled to another 26 weeks with SMP.

If you don't go back and work for 13 weeks (or equivalent if part time) after ML finishes, have to pay back last 4 weeks at 50% (I think!) Really must check that....

I work for the civil service (defra) and got 6 months full pay, 3 months SMP, 3 months unpaid, and I only have to go back for 28 days to keep it. Plus I have the option of a 5-year career break. Very good deal...

Exactly the same as dontrunwithscissors. Also a university - maybe the same one?

Can I hijack slightly and throw another two related questions into the mix? What does your workplace do about annual leave? Previous employer (local government) allowed employees to carry over any annual leave accrued whilst on maternity leave and take it during the unpaid part of mat leave if it fell in next annual leave year. Current employer does not allow carry over. My mat leave falls with perfect bad timing for this so will have to use my entire year's entitlement in 3 months before I go.

Do your companies pay your pension contribution for you when on maternity leave? Since the law change in October last year a woman's pension rights should be the same as they would have been had she not gone on leave (prior to October 2008 they could deduct the period of additional maternity leave from the woman's continuous service).

6 months full pay followed by 3 months SMP.

Civil service.

police - 13 weeks full pay then smp for 26 weeks

I have to leave at least a week before my due date, could go two weeks over, that takes up 3 weeks already, then am not supposed to exercide until 6 weeks after the birth, i could end up with 4 weeks to get fitness back so that i could go back to work on the streets (which is a condition of service. So basically if you can't afford to live off the crappy smp then you need to find a nursery to put your ten week old baby in.

I don't begrudge anyone who gets a better deal than us but just think it is bad enough if you were going back to an 'office job' but to go back into a role were you are faced with violence etc everyday it is unacceptable.
Sorry i am ranting now

I work for a property company - about 1000 employees. I get 16 weeks full pay then 23 weeks SMP. Not bad but looking at some of the posts on here, looks like they could do better! Oh the good thing is that I don't have to pay any back if I decide not to return to work...so I guess that is something!

I work in local government - for a local council - and i get 6 weeks at 90%, 12 weeks at half pay, plus SMP, and then the remainder up to 9 months at SMP. After that, 0.

Interested to see that civil service get 6 months full pay...i thought we would be on a similar footing!! :-(

Sorry should say, don't begrudge civil service getting such a good deal, just wish I did too!!

large, soulless multinational bank employer. 14 weeks 90% 26 weeks SMP (I think, i've lost the letter) no pay-back clause, though this benefit is gained after 2 years service.

wish i worked for DEFRA!

i will have my full years holiday allowance when i go back, but will use some of this as 'rehab' into work (you know, reduced hours).

if you're worried about affording mat leave, make sure you've checked your tax credits entitlement as this might make staying off longer more affordable (as every £1 i earn over the threshold - 20% tax 11% NI 37% less CTC - i'd stay off work!).

It was part of the reason I left local govt for the civil service bex

Hmm think i may be looking round for a new job once I get back to work...in the civil service! ha ha!!

i get 6 weeks at 90%, followed by 12 weeks at 50% and then SMP for the rest of the time. i work for a small charity.

I work for a news group and I get 12 weeks full pay, 6 weeks half pay then SMP the up until it becomes 9 months (can't remember how many weeks) then nothing for the last 3 months.

we can have up to 10 'getting back to work days' which are paid, so I will be using them in my last 3 months, both to get me used to the idea and to scrape a bit more money together!!

Pretty annoying at my work that you used to get 6 months full pay, but it got changed over the years.