would I be entitled to smp?

[BattyBarmey]

Hey,

Just wondering:

a) how long you have to have worked for a company before you are entitled to maternity pay?

b)does the length of time that you've worked for the company go up to when you will be taking time off or when you inform your boss that you are pregnant?

So if I started a job in January and was due to give birth in September (this is theoretical at the minute) , presuming I'd had to work at the company for 6 months to be entitled - would I be entitled to maternity pay as I'd have worked January-August = 8months or not as I'd have had to inform my company by 12 weeks (end of March) when I'd only been working for three months?

Hope this makes sense and that someone can answer these questions for me?

I've been looking it all up and it's all quite confusing.

I'm about to start a new job in January and am ttc.

In order to qualify for SMP, you have to have 26 weeks at the 15th week before your baby is due. Based on your example, you would't have the service as you would have had to have worked for 6 months, 3 months before your baby is due.

As a rule of thumb, you would have to have been employed for around 3 months before getting pregnant. Some companies do offer enhanced maternity packages, but the qualifying period is normally longer than the statutory minimum.

If you don't have the service, you could be entitled to Maternity Allowance, which is paid for by the government, but you have to have worked for a certain amount of weeks (in a different job).

Regardless of this, you are still entitled to 52 weeks maternity leave.

So, if I was a student before getting the job, got the job in January and got pregnant straight away (so would have a due date in September) I would not be entitled to any pay?

Even if I planned to return to work after the birth?

Is that correct?

Chanie44:

Now sure I agree with your example. Generally the rule of thumb is that as long as you're working when you get pregnant you're covered.

Human pregnancy around 38-42 weeks ish.

40 - 15 = 25 ish

So getting pregnant around the time you start depends how close you're calling it.

If you are pregnant before you start a new job I think you are pretty much OK.

I'm a little

In order to be entitled to maternity pay do you have to:

a) have been working for 3 months before you get pregnant? as stated by chanie44

b)just employed when you get pregnant? as stated by seeyoukay

c) be pregnant before you're employed? as suggested by NoahAndTheWhale?

If I was not entitled to maternity pay, would I be entitled to anything? I was a student but have a new job (starting in January) and would intend to continue working after the birth (DH wants to be a SAHD).

You need to have been employed for 26 weeks at the end of the 15th week before the EWC. If you add those two together, you need to have been employed for 26 weeks then have 14 weeks of pregnancy still to go. That means that the total period of service before the due date (not when the baby actually arrives) is 40 weeks. Which, not conincidentally, is the exact length a pregnancy is assumed to be for dating purposes.

So, basically the date of your last period needs to be fractionally before you start the job to be sure of SMP.

If SMP is vital to you, I would recommend waiting to start trying until you are in a job.

To get SMP you need to have been continuously employed for 26 weeks (6 months) into the 15th week before your baby is due. As babies are due at 40 weeks, 15 weeks before that is 25 weeks pregnant.

here.

So as long as you've been at your new job a week before your pregnancy starts, you're fine. Of course bearing in mind that pregnancy starts usually about two weeks before you conceive. I'd probably leave it a month after you start to be sure.

x-posts Ribena, I had that sat there for 10 minutes while I answered the phone!

I posted when too tired. Meant you needed job first and then be pregnant. Don't even have a pregnant brain to blame

Thanks everyone.

Just looked at that website link flowerybeanbag

I think that what I've read means that I would be entitled to maternity allowance rather that smp if I cut it slightly to close to get smp.

Is that correct?

Also, what's the likelyhood that a company will be a bit leniant with dates if they know that you're dedicated to the job.

It's complicated, but in order to optimize our chances of concieving we really need to try withing the next 6 months (health reasons) so i'm reluctant to wait until the job starts as that will have eaten into 2 of those months.

You can't possibly know how an employer will react when you announce you're pregnant shortly after starting the job. If it's a small company it could cause them major staffing problems. If it's a large one it would likely be an inconvenience to your immediate team but HR policies will be in place and have to be adhered to.

If you want them to know how dedicated to the job you are I would suggest having a plan of how you're going to manage the pregnancy and leave before you announce it. e.g. by trying to schedule appointments at lunch breaks or before start/after end of day; by not taking a whole year off, regularly scheduling 'keeping in touch' days, etc.

Yes you should be entitled to MA.

It's not a question of the company being lenient with dates. SMP is a legal thing, and the company can claim it back from the government as long as you meet the criteria. If you don't meet the criteria and they want to give you maternity pay it would come out of their own pocket entirely.

Have you been earning in the period whist you are a student? MA allowance is linked to NI contributions in the period prior to maternity leave too, just not to the particular job.

Ooh sorry yes missed bit about you being a student.

On the direct.gov website it says:

You may be eligible (for MA) if:

• you've been employed and/or self-employed for at least 26 weeks in your 'test period' (66 weeks up to and including the week before the week your baby is due). Part weeks count as full weeks; and
• you earned £30 a week averaged over any 13 weeks in your test period

I think that this means that so long as I had been working for 26 weeks before the due date I would be entitled to MA - Is that correct?

Sorry, I appear to be a little slow with understanding all of this.

I would be willing to do 'keeping in touch' days while on maternity leave as I have very supportive parents who are looking forward to helping with childcare.

I did not pay NI contributions as a student.

Start the job before you get up the duff.
Or do what I did and discover that you are pregnant the day after you resign from a job, start temping the next day and plead with the midwife to alter the due date by 4 days and pray that DD turned up late - she did!
I got full SMP - which was not much in 1998.

Sorry, my dates regarding SMP were wrong - baby brain.

Thanks everyone - can anyone understand the infor from the direct.gov site? Would I be entitled to MA?