maternity policy for civil services for back to back maternity leaves

[sunnydayhunny]

I am planning to have two children with 12-13 months difference and wanted to find out whats the policy for back to back maternity leaves at civil services. I have been in the job for 5 years and currently pregnant. If everything goes to plan the second child would be born after 13 months of the first child hence I will be on maternity leave for second exactly when I will be due to go back to work.
I will get 6 months paid maternity leave and then 3 months of SMP followed by 3 months unpaid leaves. I am wondering if I will be eligible for the same paid & SMP + unpaid leaves for the second maternity leave?
Has anyone got any similar experience?

Will you actually be on maternity leave or using your accrued leave?

I work in HR in the public sector. We aren’t civil service but are aligned. We don’t have any issue with people having back to back maternity leave. Employees get their maternity pay etc in their second maternity leave just as they did with their first.

Depending whether you are getting any pay in the relevant period (weeks 17-25 of pregnancy) then your SMP amount could be affected. You get 90% of the average amount paid in these weeks or £172ish whichever is lower.

Don't know about the enhanced part of pay though

@Littlegoth many thanks for your response. I will be on accrued annual leaves after the 12 months period. probably, will have 2 months worth of annual leaves to take, so will be on the annual leaves when the second maternity leaves start.

@dementedpixie that's one of my concern. However, since I will be on accrued annual leaves, I will be on full pay for 2 months before the second maternity leave starts. Don't know how it will all work.

It’s all hypothetical until you get pregnant for the second time anyway. You could just ask the question now. I’ve been asked ‘what happens if I get pregnant again when on maternity leave’ more than once. I just send the query to payroll.

I intended to go back to work pregnant after my first maternity leave. It didn’t work out that way (I changed employer instead!) and baby 2 ended up taking nearly 3 years to arrive x

Assuming you want to work until term, you want to have child 2 on week 56 after starting maternity leave. That means that your week 40 of the second pregnancy is on week 56 of maternity leave. Week 17 of pregnancy is 23 weeks before then, so week 33 of maternity leave 1. you'll have passed your 6 months full pay, so you will be getting SMP. That means that your 90% pay will be based on the SMP you got during mat leave 1, not your normal pay.

I say good luck with 'planning' your children with such precision- be prepared for that not to happen! As someone with children who were born 23 months apart I would not have wanted a smaller gap as it's exhausting!

I know at this point its all hypothetical. But, I want to have the information in hand to make any decisions.

Hello, not sure if anyone is still here but just wondered if you figured this out OP? Also a civil servant of 5 years and currently pregnant, I had a rough pregnancy as my partner works away in the summer months so next time I am keen to time my first trimester when he is at home… which basically works out getting pregnant in Jan 2026 (in an ideal scenario) and I will be taking my mat leave March 25-March 26 with 1 month annual leave until April 26…so going back 4 months pregnant. Same payment plan as you OP… any idea if we can be paid mat leave twice in two years?