Maternity changes

[JLMum1125]

I went on Maternity October 2023. At the time the policy at work was 10weeks head baseline company maternity pay. (Full pay), 11-12 weeks 75% and 13-18 50%. The rest statutory.

Due to cost of living, a new mortgage with high rates & the somewhat flexibility of working from home and scheduling around my other children, I took 12 weeks.

Men are entitled to the full pay for the 10 weeks and one colleague in particular has been able to take these weeks off on an adhoc bases. His child is 9 months old and he still has 2 weeks left to take.

I returned to work at the end of Jan 2024. Just before this (early Jan) they changed the policy to baseline rate pay for 26 weeks! However I was not advised. They did however email to reimburse me for the 2 weeks they deducted it to 75%.

Sorry for the long post, but I emailed them asking why I wasn’t made aware and that I was actually entitled to 26 weeks full pay and had I been told I would have taken it. They are saying I can’t have it as my maternity came to an end! But they want to reimburse me for the 2 weeks. Where do I stand? I’m devastated I haven’t been able to have this time and I believe I should be entitled - given that my male coworker has been able to use this over the year!

[purpledagger]

there are two separate things here;

maternity entitlement - if your employer is offering anything above the statutory entitlement, they can set the terms, so they could say 'this only applies for babies born or due on XXX date'. The government has done the same when they changed maternity legislation, in that the changes only applied to births going forward from a particular date, so there are always going to be winners and losers.

shared parental leave - it sounds like your male colleague is using shared parental leave, which is a different entitlement to maternity leave. It may be that he applied after the new policy was introduced and so was able to benefit. Unlike maternity leave, you can apply for shared parental leave at anytime during 50 weeks available, so it may have worked in his favour.

i think the first thing you should do is get both policies and check when both policies were effective from.

i dont think you have much recourse otherwise, but you could explore a grievance.

i get it, it's horrible when something like this happens, but sometimes, it's just the way things work out.

[Catopia]

I wonder if you notifying them that you were intending to come back so soon made them reflect on their policy, and that you coming back after 3 months was why they changed it; so that others did not feel that they had to.

I think it's worth you reading that policy cover to cover and checking if it has anything about whether it applies to those already on maternity leave, and possibly seeking some advice from ACAS or Pregnant then Screwed. However, I suspect it does not have anything in it, or they probably wouldn't have implemented the reduction for those 2 weeks. However, I suspect that you would not be able to effectively go back on maternity leave now you've ended it, as your employer won't get the same deductions.

[grumpytoddler1]

You might not be able to restart maternity leave, but you may be able to go on shared parental leave, the pay will depend on what the rules are for that.

[PickledPurplePickle]

When did the new policy start from? Was the birth date of babies falling under this specified?

I suspect that you were not entitled to the new policy as your baby had already been born when it was introduced

[JLMum1125]

totally get your points. I suppose my thought is, if it’s changed and I’m not entitled because my child was born after the date. Why did they then top up my wage for the 2 weeks I was originally meant to be on 75%?

[purpledagger]

they may have decided to top up your pay for those two weeks as a goodwill gesture at their discretion.

how do they normally communicate policy changes?

[dreamfield]

I would take that as a goodwill gesture too.

[JLMum1125]

I’ll definitely check the info tomorrow. In the email they said they’d noticed I was entitled after an audit. Like you’ve said, won’t be able to return to maternity as it’s finished