Maternity entitlement if pregnant again on maternity leave

[Mmr224]

I have a ten week old baby from IVF, I'm in my early 40s and I have four remaining embryos frozen. Work do not know I did IVF and I have been with my current employer for over six years in a junior management role.

We are keen to try for a sibling as soon as possible given my age, and I am trying to work out what happens to enhanced pay, statutory pay and maternity leave entitlements if I either return to work pregnant and due to go on leave again in 3-6 months? Or alternatively if I add the unpaid leave portion I am not currently taking at the end of this maternity leave then take accrued annual leave and then go on maternity leave again without physically returning to work in between.

My work currently offers an enhanced maternity pay package of 10 weeks full pay and 8 weeks half pay with the remaining weeks at statutory pay and I'm on £35000. I had already agreed to go back on compressed hours over four days instead of five.

You need to be employed for 26 weeks before 25th week of pregnancy to be entitled to the enhanced package. If you do not return to work or leave within 12 months you need to pay the enhanced portion back on a sliding scale.

I'm taking the full paid portion then my accrued paid leave before returning when baby is ten months.

I don't want to ask hr hypothetical questions as the treatment may not work, just want to try to work out what we would be entitled to if the treatment works.

Can't help with the enhanced part but you would be entitled to leave and your SMP would be calculated based on what pay you get between weeks 17 and 25 of pregnancy so it depends if you'd be on enhanced pay or SMP at that point

For the enhanced part you'll need to check the policy where you work. There's no hard and fast rule. I know of places in which you'd be eligible for the enhanced part again and places where it's a specified exclusion.

Thanks to both of you for replying. The policy states about paying back if you leave within 12 months of return date on a sliding scale but does not mention whether you need to return to work to be eligible for a second maternity leave enhanced package or any exclusion, so I'm hoping that means they don't have an exclusion. I hope by week 25 I would be on full pay as have 6 weeks annual leave to use before return to work although possibly some might be SMP if I was lucky enough for treatment to work quickly. I'll make it work either way, just wanted an idea

If it doesn't specifically state that you have to be working for X amount of time before being eligible for enhanced maternity pay again, I'd presume you're OK. And I'd argue the point if they tried to say I wasn't eligible- contra proferentem says that ambiguity in a contract should favour the party that didn't draw it up- but you'd have to check with a lawyer if you needed to take it to court.

If I were you I would plan for the worst case scenario pay-wise which is 39 weeks SMP or maternity allowance. Like a PP has said, it would very much depend on when you fell pregnant and what your earnings would be during the qualifying period for your second pregnancy. You’d still be entitled to take up to 52 weeks of maternity leave for your second pregnancy and depending on times you could run the two maternity leaves together.

It’s not at all uncommon, I deal with maternity leave for nurses and I’d say around a quarter of my nurses come back for a short while already pregnant or run the two leave periods together.

Most companies allow back to back enhanced maternity pay (I can't be sure but this might also be protected by maternity laws but don't quote me) but I'm sure I also read somewhere once that you can't then expect to do it a 3rd time?

Also I'd check with your IVF clinic as mine refuses to do another transfer for at least 18 months after a successful birth (and requires a specialist doctors sign off to reduce that to 12 months)

Thanks for all the helpful advice. We definitely wouldn't be trying for a third so wouldn't be looking for a third set of maternity leave. I'm waiting to hear back from the clinic about timings for a transfer as well and that will obviously impact whether this will be an issue.