Entitlement to full maternity package - second pregnancy

[PumpkinPi84]

Hi

I wondered if anyone could advise me on a mat leave issue? I am currently on mat leave with my first child and, due to how I have been overlooked for promotion, I do not want to return to my current job permanently. I am considering whether I should look to move jobs immediately at the end of my mat leave, or whether to try for a second child with minimum time back at work in between. I am trying to work out how long I would need to return for to be entitled to the full package for my second child.

This is the wording of the policy:
To qualify for SMP and OMP an employee must have been employed continuously for at least 26 weeks into the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth.

Does this mean I need to be back at work when I fall pregnant? Or does the previous mat leave class as continuous employment?

Thanks!

Maternity leave with the same employer counts as continuous employment. However SMP is calculated based on earnings in the eight weeks before the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth, so you need to be earning during that period. You should also check how OMP is calculated at your work.

Are you sure there isn't additional wording for subsequent pregnancies? All of the large firms I've worked for with a good package have additional conditions for back to back periods of maternity leave (or periods close together).

It will depend on companies individual wording. Ours states 3 years continuous service equals however many more weeks at 90% than one year or two. But maternity leave counts as continuation

Assuming you only get smp then it doesn't matter and you could have back to back mat leaves though if your company offers enhanced pay there will normally be extra conditions attached. However the 90% earning period (6 weeks) will depend on how much you were earning at a certain time. Not sure how that works if you were on smp when that period falls.

I work for a university so policy is on the generous side, shame family friendly policies don't filter down to how individual departments treat their staff.

Anyway the OMP section says:
The first 18 continuous weeks will be paid at full salary and will include any SMP due at the appropriate rate set by the government

The only calculation it mentions for OMP is for temporary staff. There's no section on additional pregnancies.

Thanks

No definition of what full pay means? It could be your contractual salary, it could be average pay during qualifying period or another defined period or point in time, it could be pay as at date maternity leave starts. Those three could all be different.

The definition says:

Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML) is the first 26 weeks of maternity leave. During this time an employee is entitled to all of their contractual rights (such as pension or holidays) that the employee would have received if they had not been on leave.

It seems too good to be true that there wouldn't be a qualifying period for it but can't see anything that would indicate that.

Not a definition for ordinary maternity leave- that's a statutory thing. I'm talking about your occupational maternity pay. If they pay you 18 weeks at full salary, do they define anywhere what they mean by full salary. As I said in my last post, there are several possibilities.

Oh right, sorry. It doesn't say.