Redundancy while pregnant

[ab03]

Hoping some HR people might be able to help, although I understand that the law has changed recently and people might not know.

I am nearly 10 weeks pregnant and expect to be made redundant soon because of a restructure - I have seen the new organisation chart but haven't formally been told. From maternity pay calculators etc I think to qualify for maternity leave I would have to be employed until 27 October (15 weeks before edd). My notice period is 3 months, so does that mean if I am given my notice after 27 July then I would still be employed on 27 October and therefore still qualify for maternity leave? My employer's enhanced policy has the same qualifying criteria, so I assume I would then qualify for that too, if I count as being employed while serving notice?

Also I have heard conflicting information on whether I legally can be made redundant. From my research I thought I could (as long as there are no other suitable vacancies for me), but a union rep has said he doesn't think I can. Anyone certain of the answer?

Thanks

Yes you can still be made redundant when pregnant as long as you aren’t being made redundant because you are pregnant, if that makes sense.

If you’re employed up to the date then you’ll still be entitled to SMP but not your employer’s enhanced maternity package because you’re no longer an employee when on maternity leave. It’s no different in that sense than if you were to work up to that date then leave for another job, you’re not an employee so you don’t receive the enhanced pay from them.

they can make you redundant at any point as long as it’s not pregnancy related.

the maternity pay for the company you won’t be entitled too as you won’t be working for them. Also when you get made redundant you normally get a months notice not 3 . You’ll be eligible for the statutory maternity but nothing else sorry.

You can absolutely be made redundant whilst pregnant or on maternity leave. You need to check your policies regarding redundancy and parental leave - a previous organization I worked for would pay the full enhanced maternity leave pay as a lump sum if made redundant whilst on mat leave.

There's not a standard redundancy notice - the OP has 3 months notice in her contract so that is what she should receive. They can offer PILON though to expedite the process.

Either way if they give her the 3 months she isn’t entitled to the maternity pay as she won’t be working for the company .

OP, if you are made redundant and your employment ends in or after your qualifying week, you are still entitled to SMP for 39 weeks. If you are already on maternity leave and receiving SMP, your maternity leave will come to an end when your employment ends but your SMP must continue for the rest of the 39 week period. As per my previous post, entitlement to enhanced pay will depend on your company policies.

Thanks all. At the moment I'm just hoping I don't get the notice before 27 July so that I can at least get statutory maternity pay, but my company maternity policy does say if you have 26 weeks service at the 15th week before edd then you qualify for the enhanced pay, even if you have a fixed term contract that would end during maternity leave, so I think they might pay that - as long as serving notice still counts as being an employee during that time. They would be scared of bad press because of the nature of the company so that might be why I was told they 'can't' get rid of me, it would just be a bad idea for them.

I know it must happen a lot and people must deal with it somehow, but it does surprise me that there's no extra compensation or entitlement to SMP when it will be incredibly difficult to get another job and even then wouldn't qualify for any maternity pay! I don't think I can handle terminating a wanted pregnancy but when the alternative is getting into serious debt or having to put the baby into childcare at a few months old then I have to consider it

Have they started consultation yet? Look up goverment rules on consultation in some cases depending on how many people are at risk there should be group consultation which slows things down a bit.

Even if there isn't group consultation there should be individual consultation where you are made aware that your role is at risk, what's in the package, alternative roles etc. there are no rules on how long that this should be but it should be meaningful which hopefully takes you past the 27th.

@ab03 is there a consultation process going on? Can you try to delay decisions re your role absolutely as much as possible to draw you closer to October? Sorry for what you're going through, it sounds so stressful x

Do they know you are pregnant? When I had to make redundancies I had two on mat leave, we decided to wait until they returned a year later so they got the best maternity package we could give them. They were involved in consultation but notice was served at end of the mat leave.