Is there a minimum time gap that you have to have between babies to receive statutory maternity pay?

[Pennies]

A friend of mine works at a company that only pays Stat Mat pay. her LO is months old and she is planning another soon but doesn't know if she needs to leave a minimum gap and return to a work for a set amount of time before she is elligible for Stat Mat pay. Can anyone here help?

Not sure of the timescales, don't think there is a minimum requirement, but it may depend on when her qualifying weeks fall as to how much the 90% calculation is based on for the first few weeks ie. in theory it could include some of her basic SMP weeks so work out lower than if she waited to fall pg when she had worked a few months and it would all be based on her salary fro those weeks.

Ooh yes I forgot about the qualifying weeks. Thanks for that.

From Dept of Work and Pensions site

"Can I get it?
You must have been employed by your employer in the 15th week before the week your baby is due.

To get SMP you must have been:

Employed by the same employer without a break for at least 26 weeks into the 15th week before the week your baby is due. Part weeks count as full weeks.
Earning before tax an average of £84.00 a week. This is called the Lower Earnings Limit for National Insurance Contributions (NI) and is the amount you have to earn to qualify for benefits. You have to earn more than this amount before you actually start paying NI.
If YES to all, claim SMP.

You can read more about how long you must work for your employer and how to work out your earnings in leaflet NI 17A ? A guide to Maternity Benefits "

Sounds like as long as she is still on their payroll it shouldn't matter how big the gap is.

Nope, mine ds1 was 5 months when ds2 was conceived, SMp as usual

Eligibility for maternity pay and leave is based on qualifying weeks etc as an earlier poster has put. To receive full SMP your friend needs to be back for the qualifying weeks or she won't get the full wack - I think it is based on what you earn in weeks 15 to 28 or something like that - it says in the NHS pregnancy book in the Q&A bit.

I went back to work when my dd1 was 10 months and I was 14 weeks pregnant with dd2 - I got all my benefits and am currently enjoying my maternity leave. hth

She should get SMP with second too even if one maternity leave follows another - but you could always call ACAS who are very helpful and will be able to give you the correct answers...08457 474747