Employer Insolvent and on Maternity Leave

[Mumoftwogirls2022]

Can anyone help with my situation.
My Employer told all staff in September that the company has ceased to trade and will be entering into Liquidation, therefore my employment has been terminated without notice.

As I am on Mat Leave I can claim my SMP from HMRC. As the company is insolvent, by default I have been made redundant and as there is no money in the company to pay out, but I can claim Redundancy pay, holiday pay and statutory notice pay from the Insolvency Service once the company actually enters into Liquidation.

The company still isn’t in Liquidation and my employer has told me recently that my Redundancy, Holiday and Statutory Notice pay will be based on my maternity pay, which will be pittance!

Has anyone been in this situation and was your payout based on your maternity pay or your usual wages prior to being on maternity leave.

I have been there 12 years so my payout if based on my usual wages would be substantial!

ACAS can’t give a definite answer.

That’s not right OP, your redundancy and holiday pay should be based on your normal wage, not impacted by your maternity. I believe your PILON should also be your usual wage, minus your SMP for that period. I would recommend calling MaternityAction about this, or your union if you have one.

Are you aware of any other employees currently on maternity leave? If so might be worth contacting them to band together on this issue.

Op you could also ring the ACAS helpline & they'll tell you & maybe help you work it out xx

I’ve seen people recommend “pregnant and screwed” on MN before. They would likely be able to help you. Good luck sorting it all out.

Thank you for replies. It seems to be such a grey area! I just hoping someone has been in the same situation as me!

OP this happened to me earlier this year, 8 weeks into my ML. I claimed the rest of my SMP from HMRC along with my notice pay and redundancy pay. I wasn't owed any holiday pay as I had taken all of my AL before I went on ML.
Notice pay and redundancy pay was based on my earnings before ML as it should be (up to a maximum of £544 per week it was for me, it is now £571 per week).
There were a lot of things I couldn't find answers about online so I'll answer what happened to me in case they are things you're worried about! A lot of people (including an accountant and a relative who works for a union) told me HMRC would pay my SMP in one lump sum. They didn't. I was paid in one lump sum for the amount owed from between being made redundant and them paying out, then the remainder has been paid into my bank every 4 weeks.
I have paid no tax or NI on it. My last pay off my ex employer was on 31/03 so I wouldn't have paid any tax anyway. NI I was told would be settled at a later date so I presume when I start my new job I will overpay NI at first. Again I was told I would automatically have to pay 20% tax on my SMP and claim it back which I was dreading but never happened.
It did take a while to sort out. Although I was made redundant on 31st March my employer did not actually enter liquidation until mid May - I was told I could not claim for my unpaid ML until then. This was wrong but I only found out afterwards, I should have put my claim in straight away.
I was told by HMRC they were working to a 6 week lead time. I called them again 6 weeks later to say it had changed to 8 weeks and to call back in 2 weeks. I made a complaint as I had ex colleagues that had been owed money for unpaid wages who had received there's - the difference was because mine was SMP it was being handled by a different team. I accused them of discrimination as I was being treated differently for being on maternity leave. I had a phone call the next day from HMRC apologising and the money was in my account the following day.
I was lucky I had savings to fall back on - if I hadn't I don't know what I would've done. Even if I'd put the claim in straight away I'd have still been without money for at least 6 weeks.
Also one thing I was led to believe was that SMP would be deducted from my notice pay as I couldn't claim for both. It wasn't; I was paid for the remaining 31 weeks SMP, 2 weeks notice pay and 2 weeks redundancy pay without any deductions.
If there's any questions I haven't covered please feel free to ask.

Thank you so so much for your reply! It is so helpful! I am literally in the same position as you and it’s so hard to find answers anywhere as it appears to be a unique position to be in. I phoned ACAS and even an employment solicitor and was told it was a grey area! I have put my claim in for SMP and I’m told it could be weeks/months because the company still isn’t in Liquidation. I really do hope they base the redundancy and notice pay on my usual wages as I was with the company 12 years so I’m due a lot! In normal redundancy cases it is based on your usual wage, but when it’s insolvency there is little
information out there. I don’t see why I should be penalised just because I was on Matnerity Leave. I never want to go through this again and even more so never again on Maternity Leave! I have also managed to claim Job Seekers Allowance at £77 a week until my Maternity Leave ends which is better than £0 at the moment.

I've just checked and I did have JSA deducted along with tax and NI off my PILON.