Complicated Maternity Pay question!

[Annabellemary]

I am currently on maternity leave and still on SMP, which is due to finish in a couple of months although I am not due back to work until three months after that.

As part of the maternity option that I took I agreed to go back for a minimum of three months to qualify for higher rate maternity pay.

Anyway (i'll get to the point) I am now pregnant again and by the time I am due back to work I will be seven months pregnant. Will I still have to go back to work for the twelve weeks or will being pregnant and possibly starting a second maternity leave before my due back to work date mean that I get out of it. Or would I have to pay back the higher rate if I don't go back?

Any advice welcome!

I don't think you'll have to pay back the higher rate if you are on maternity leave. Of course you will if you don't go back to work at all.

What does your maternity scheme say about it? How is your pay calculated for maternity pay? Where I work it is based upon actual earnings in one of the weeks prior to maternity leave; I forget which week. So if you are receiving no pay during this time perhaps you'll not get the occupational maternity pay? Interesting. Your scheme may be very different, best to contact your HR team I think.

Thank you, I think you're right actually, I think that because I wont have received any salary in the weeks prior to starting the second maternity pay that I wont get any maternity pay at all.

It's just that I don't want to go back to work so will probably have to pay the money back.

Congratulations on the pg! I was in the same situation and went back to work 6 months pg, didn't affect any higher rates of mat pay as I didn't qualify in the first place, but just wanted to say that I haven't qualified for mat pay this time round as I wasn't working in the qualifying week (15 weeks before due day iirc). It might be worth checking which weeks you will need to work if you want to qualify for mat pay this time round!

Thank you, I think i'll just pay back the money as it might be too much to go back to work at seven months pregnant when I will have a 12 month old already.

Thanks for your thoughts though x