Workplace policy (non contractual), can it be revoked just for me?

[Pregnantandredundant]

My employer has an enhanced maternity pay scheme, which I am eligible for. It is a publicly available policy.

The wording says that it is non contractual and can be withdrawn at any time. It hasn’t been withdrawn or changed in any way.

Can it be withdrawn just for one person (me)? Or is that discrimination? I ask because I am being made redundant, and want to argue that it should be part of the payment that I get from the company as I already qualify for it.

I... Don't quite understand what you're arguing. Are you on maternity leave right now? Or are you arguing that you should receive a larger redundancy payment because you would have been eligible for enhanced maternity pay if you had continued to work there?

Thanks for replying @SeagoingSexpot.

I am eligible according to the policy. The eligibility criteria is to be on the payroll at 25 weeks pregnant, which I am. I’ll be made redundant at 31 weeks pregnant. There’s no specification to be on the payroll then. So therefore I think it should be part of the redundancy payment. And to revoke that would be discriminatory.

Appreciate I’m possibly clutching at straws, but when you find yourself redundant at 6 months pregnant you end up doing a lot of straw clutching!

But surely you're only "entitled" if you remain employed?

Have you talked to ACAS? It does sound as though they are trying to get out of paying your maternity pay.

What else does the policy say as usually for enhanced pay you need to return to the workplace for 3 months after maternity leave. You'll qualify for SMP but I'm not sure about the enhanced part.
This is happening to a friend of mine at the moment. She doesn't have enhanced mat pay but she is suing them for discrimination as her role hasn't been made redundant and there are other roles she could do but hasn't been offered them...presumably because she pregnant

I'm sorry, but there's absolutely no way they are going to pay you extra on top of your redundancy payment because you would have been eligible for an enhanced mat pay package if you had still been employed when you went on mat leave. It isn't an entitlement, because you won't be on mat leave when your employment ends, and the most an enhanced package tops up to is full salary. Which your redundancy payment, if any, will already be on the basis of full salary. And at that, you would only have been confirmed fully eligible for the enhanced package when you came back after the mat leave you haven't started yet.

Enhanced maternity pay is a retention strategy. They do it so people are engaged and return after mat leave. But they don't want to retain you.

Are you going to be on maternity leave when you are made redundant, OP? Otherwise if you are not on maternity leave at the time I don't see how you can claim the enhanced part (and I'm still not sure if that applies if you are redundant tbh). They should continue to pay your SMP.

I would not say that they are withdrawing it in the circumstances you have outlined. If you are not on maternity leave, it's not in force at all.

You're not going to be eligible for enhanced maternity pay once you are no longer an employee, it's an implied condition of the (non contractual anyway) scheme that it is only applicable to employees of the company.

But there isn’t an implication to be a current employee, it’s very clear that the only eligibility is to be on the payroll at 25 weeks pregnant.

I’m due to go on mat leave in October. My redundancy should be finalised in August, so I’ll be on my four month notice period when my mat leave starts. I think that because of the conditionality in the policy I should have it paid.

Think I’m not onto a winner here by the responses! Back to the drawing board.

Tell me the exact whole wording. I would be astonished if they routinely pay enhanced maternity pay to ex employees. How would that even work? Paying statutory payments to non-employees is one thing, but a payment like enhanced maternity pay could surely only be paid to someone still on the payroll as an employee?!

I imagine the wording means you need to be on the payroll by 25 weeks, not that you can leave employment after 25 weeks and still benefit.

Needing to be an employee to benefit from enhanced maternity pay is really so blatantly obviously the case that if it were not the case I would expect that to be explicit.

Of course you should receive it for any of your maternity leave during which you are still employed (unless there is a requirement to pay it back if you don't return from maternity leave). But not thereafter.

If there is no conditionality to repay the enhanced mat pay, could you see if starting your maternity leave at 29 weeks makes a difference? Clutching at straws a bit, but if you were on maternity leave already prior to the redundancy date, then it may be worth a shot?

Thanks @Rockchick1984, it’s a good call but a risky one. I’m going to see how negotiations go.

But there isn’t an implication to be a current employee, it’s very clear that the only eligibility is to be on the payroll at 25 weeks pregnant.

An "implication" won't be stated in the policy, as its implied! That's the point!

It's fairly obvious that they don't pay enhanced maternity pay to people who don't work for them. At the point of starting mat leave, you will no longer be their employee., and therefore not entitled. If you started your mat leave at 29 weeks,I would imagine you'd be entitled to enhanced pay for 2 weeks until your employment terminates at 31 weeks, at which point it would stop as you are no longer employed by them. Just like they stop paying you your regular salary when your employment with them ends.

I doubt that in their annual leave policy they state that you must be employed by them in order for you to be entitled to paid annual leave, but its blindingly obvious that you need to be. This is the same.

OP based on the info provided you will get SMP for the full 9 months but this can be paid in a lump sum on your last day of service. The occupational top up is only paid to last day of service.