Redundancy at Maternity Leave

[CupidStunt24]

Hello,

I just wondered if anyone may have been in a similar situation or has any insight into this kind of thing that may be able to point me in the right direction please.

I was told on Friday I was going to be made redundant, consultation period started Friday and conclusion to be held on Thursday. I am 17 weeks pregnant. Reason for redundancy is business closure. If the decision on Thursday is made that I am being made redundant and I am given my 4 weeks notice, that, along with my 13 days holiday I have left, takes me into my qualifying week for SMP.

Does anyone know how I would go about claiming SMP for a business that is closing? I know that I am able to claim MA should my employment end before the qualifying week starts and that's directly from HMRC. Do I have to get my MATB1 form, which of course the owner will reject, and then use that to claim from through elsewhere? I keep being told my employer HAS to pay it, but I am unsure how that is supposed to work for a business no longer running, with no accounts department and no payroll?

We are a very small company, with no HR and I'm not really sure where to turn for advice. The owner of the company is not approachable, all contact is made via my manager, who is great but has never been in this situation and who is unfortunately also losing their job so has a lot going on. I am trying to do as much research as I can as I feel I will need to prompt anything I need done before closure, as it won't be possible to tie up afterwards if that makes sense? I'm worried I won't be able to contact "those above" after that point.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

I think what they are meaning is that you will have to ask your employer to calculate your maternity pay as well as your redundancy pay and pay you that too on top of your redundancy pay.

the relevant info about what to do is here

maternityaction.org.uk/advice/redundancy-during-pregnancy-and-maternity-leave/

I’m sorry you are in this situation.

Are you sure about the notice period, you get one week for each year employed up to 12 weeks. www.gov.uk/redundancy-your-rights/notice-periods

Your employer can pay Pay in lieu of Notice (PILON), and this may mean you don’t qualify for SMP. They can certainly either ask you to take your holiday during your notice period and/or pay you for your leave, again meaning you don’t qualify for SMP. Check with ACAS. In this situation you would apply for MA. www.gov.uk/maternity-allowance

If your employer agrees your last date of employment is 26?/10/2022 I.e. 4 weeks + 2.6 weeks holiday (13 days) and this means you qualify for SMP, they can pay all your SMP in your final salary/with redundancy pay - this does have tax and NI implications. As the business is closing this is what I would do.

Is there a set date the company will close? If it is after the date you would qualify for SMP they will need to ensure they don’t end your employment earlier than other colleagues to avoid paying SMP. This is complicated as other employees may be entitled to a longer notice period. Again ACAS can help.

HTH

Thank you both! I had no idea about the 1 week for every year notice period, I have checked my contract and its referred to there, as well as several websites and they all say the same - so that is definitely something I need to have noted. So that would be 8 weeks notice period, as well as the equivalent of 8 years in redundancy too, so another 8 weeks there.

With regards to other staff having longer notice periods, that isn't an issue as both other office staff members have been here less than a year so their notice period is only 1 week, where as mine will be 8 weeks.

I also had no idea that if I reach my qualifying week, and the business is closing, that SMP should be paid in full at the same time as redundancy / notice - so this is really really helpful as it would have been very easy to have the wool pulled over my eyes!

Thank you both again :)

FYI if they dispute paying SMP then they must give you a form SMP1.

Basically you still need to follow SMP rules and timelines. Formally request your mat leave and SMP and forward your MatB1. They should respond, if they refuse to pay they must give you an SMP1 which you take to DWP/JobCentre.

This happened to me and I got smp and redundancy in one large sum (annoying ad meant I paid more tax as didn't run into the next financial year)!

I was made redundant whilst on maternity leave - cannot recommend pregnant than screwed enough and acas.
i was also given a free consultation with a solicitor so follow this up! The advice was invaluable.
my friend was made redundant before the birth and was messed around so much - the company just folded - took her months to claim smp so keep pushing!