If I apply for a new job, will my current boss know about it?

[fredandginger]

I.e. will the new company call my current company to check details?
Current boss likely to be peeved (reactionary guy, quite unprofessional, good at mistreating staff and wriggling out of tribunal situations, don't want to antagonise)

Also, I'm 7 weeks pg, so if by some miracle, got new job and started at say, 12 wks, would I be eligible for any mat pay with new company?

Thanks for any input in advance :)

As far as I understand it, new company will only contact your current employer after they've offered you the post, unless you've said that they can.
The job offer is normally conditional on references checking out etc and can be withdrawn if they don't.
I f you've put your current employer as a reference, you should probably just make sure with the new company that they won't contact them, it wouldn't be seen as an unreasonable request.
Most companies, (I'm not sure if it's actual law or not), should pay maternity allowance if you've been employed for 6 months before the baby is due. But you'd still be entitled to SMP either way.
I hope this helps, and I hope you get more informative replies.
Good luck on getting the new job!

Hi, you would get maternity allowance from the government. You have to send payslips to prove you've worked 13 weeks in a four month window of time around a year before the baby is born, which you will have done. I know because I got a new job at 7 weeks pregnant and started at 13 weeks. The MA was the same amount as SMP (about £500 a month, paid weekly), bar the first six weeks when they get 90% of their pay. You wouldn't qualify for SMP or company maternity pay, if your company offered it. But it wasn't the end of the world for me as we still got some money.

In my experience of applying for jobs, your employer would only be contacted after you'd got the job and even then you don't have to put your manager as a reference, you can put HR for a standard 'she showed up' reference, which is all they need.

Ps, just realised the details above might not be totally correct (hazy memory), but to cut a long story short, you'd almost certainly qualify for MA.

In terms of SMP, you are only entitled to it if you have been continuously employed by your employer for at least 26 weeks ending with the qualifying week (and still be employed in that week) which is 15 weeks before your EDD, so basically you need to have been with your employer from the moment your pregnancy is dated (iyswim?).
If you aren't entitled to SMP though, you should still be entitled to SMA which is basically the same as SMP without the first 6 weeks at 90%.