Maternity pay issue

[LoveInAColdClimate]

I am going on maternity leave in March and my baby is due on 15 March. My employer pays only statutory minimum maternity pay. However, it is improving its policy very significantly for babies born after 1 May. I clearly don't fall into this category.

I have asked if there's any flexiblity in this and been told "no".

I am, frankly, a bit gutted to be losing out on something like £4k after tax by just a few weeks. Money will be v tight on ML and this would really help us.

I assume there is nothing I can do about this, but just thought I'd post in case anyone can offer any helpful advice. I assume the advice is probably going to be "sorry, nothing you can dom get over it" but you never know!

TIA.

That's rotten luck. At least they are recognising their statutory obligation. I have had a hell of a time getting my employer to pay SMP, and they have been vile about it. HMRC forced them to pay SMP but I feel seriously compromised at work. If your employer has already said no, be prepared for a huge fight if you decide to take it further. Good luck...

God, yours is even worse than me seo. You poor thing. I feel really disappointed by it - I work really bloody hard and they won't give any ground on this issue. Just find it really demotivating and demoralising, to be honest.

Yes, it's not very encouraging for you. If you have no contractual right though and they aren't giving ground, I think you should tread very carefully!

Yes, if no one has a magic solution I'll give up, rather than falling out with them, but thought worth posting in case someone provided a desperately obvious solution I'd missed! Thanks.

There's no magic solution, no. They have to draw the line somewhere and you've fallen the wrong side of it.

if they previously paid SMP only and are prepared to budget for more in the future, that's really positive. But it is a big commitment that will require adjustments in budgeting and planning so bringing the date forward for your benefit probably isn't as simple as it might seem.

Thanks, Flowery. I do understand that there needs to be some cut off. I wish they hadn't announced it until May 1, really, then I'd have been on maternity leave and wouldn't have known about it, rather than having a chance to feel hormonally distraught over it all! I only posted really so that I didn't mention it in passing in a year only to have someone say "But why didn't you say X incredibly obvious thing to them?" Thank you.