Any advice - pregnant & redundant

[lucamom]

Has anyone been in my situation or have any advice please:

I'm 20 weeks pregnant and have been told I'm being made redundant. My notice period is 13 weeks, which will take me to 33 weeks pregnant when I leave (I was due to start maternity leave at 34 weeks - bad timing!!). Do I qualify for statutory (as will have been employed at the 15th week before due date), or will it be maternity allowance as I'll no longer be employed?

Also, can I register as unemplyed once I'm redundant, even if it's only a week or so before I would've taken maternity leave?

Hope this makes sense - any help appreciated.

lucamom you do qualify for statutory maternity pay, your organisation will have to pay it to you despite the fact that you will no longer be employed by them. So actually timing isn't so bad.

Are you satisfied that the redundancy was genuine? You also need to be aware that if there was any suitable available alternative work in the organisation, you should have been offered it.

Registering as unemployed, I can't see why not but I don't actually know that - you wouldn't have had to go on maternity leave at 34 weeks, you are actually available for work until your baby is born. You can also get incapacity benefit around that time for a while, as obviously for a few weeks at least you are incapable of work. I can't remember the details though, or when you can get it.

You will qualify for maternity pay. I doubt you'll be able to also register as unemployed but the job centre will be able to tell you.