What is a temp entitled to?

[Suziemagpie]

Hello,
I was wondering if anyone had any experience of being a temp who is about to have a baby? I?ve been with my temping agency for nearly 2 years and have been in my current role for a year but only on a temporary contract. I?m assuming that all I?m entitled to is Maternity allowance but I was wondering if anyone knew of any other benefits I could claim. My husband is a freelance worker who gets regular work but obviously without the security of a guaranteed regular wage. I?m starting to get very worried about how will cope as the MA is less than half of what I am earning as a temp. Has anyone else been in a similar position? We had our 21 week scan yesterday and found out we are having a little girl, I?m really excited but my anxiety is currently ruining all that.
My agency have asked me to supply a MATB1 but other than that are being very unhelpful.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

As far as I understand it, your employer is the agency, so they have to pay you the SMP or MA (after the first 6 weeks they are the same amount in any case).

I think the agency then have to find you employment after your maternity leave.

SMP/MA is always a lot less than you would normally be earning, so you need to work out a budget to see how long you can afford to stay off. Some people can only afford to take a couple of months, whereas some people can afford the full year.

But hopefully someone who knows more will be along in a sec.

Thanks for replying. Its proving to be a bit of a murky area with regards to my agency. Hoepfully they will provide the right answers when i get my form in to them.

I got full SMP from my agency when I had dd 12 years ago - ie (as it was) 8 weeks of full pay on my average of the last three weeks and then 6 weeks of the MA figure.
The agency had three of us on mat pay at the time -
they of course reclaimed all of the mat pay against their paye do were not fussed.

finding employment after - there was no liability on either side as I was technically reemployed every week
I cannot see how or why they wold be forced to find you work, or why you'd want them to make you

Hi, thanks for your answer. Does that mean you went back to work after 14 weeks? Ideally i'd like to stay off for at least 6 months.

no, I never went back to work.
After having DD I went free range

It all depends on whether you are on a Contract of Employment (usually zero hours but you are an employee of the agency) or Conditions for Service, which is the "traditional" temping arrangement whereby no contract is in place.

If you are on a Contract of Employment, and assuming that you have reached the relevant qualifying period (can't remember what it is off the top of my head - sorry!), then you should be entitled to SMP, and your agency should pay this to you. If they have requested your MATB1, I would err on the side of assuming that you are on a Contract of Employment, but you should request a copy of your paperwork if you don't already have one.

If you aren't having much joy with your local branch team (and having worked in recruitment for over 12 years, I can appreciate that this is frustrating!), I would try to contact the agency's Tax department at their Head Office as they will most likely be dealing with your MATB1 and associated pay, and will have far more experience in dealing with such matters.

SMP and MA are roughly about the same figure £125 a week, although with SMP you get 90% of your pay for the first 6 weeks. The £125 a week is up to 9 months, then if you can the final 3 months up to the full year the last 3 months you don't get any pay.

I've just gone back to work after maternity leave. Other benefits I got were £20 a week family allowance (child benefit) and I also got about £80 every 4 weeks for child tax credit. You may be able to claim child tax credit but it will depend on what your husband is earning as its based on the hosuehold income. If husbands income is sufficently low there may also be other benefits you can claim

Hi All,
Thanks so much for your replies. This and some other research have made things much clearer. x