Getting made redundant just before mat leave

[Hermione0408]

Hi everyone, looking for some advice as I’m 30 weeks pregnant and found out this morning the small business I work for is closing down and I’m getting made redundant. Panicking as not sure I’m going to be able to find a new job (will anyone hire someone this pregnant?!) and assuming I now won’t get any mat leave/pay and will also loose nursery funding for my toddler. My boss didn’t seem to have any idea of timelines or anything, he just said him and the other owner need to talk to solicitors this afternoon. I WFH so just a phone call this morning to let me know, I’m going to speak to him again later so need to try and get my head around what questions I need to ask.

You’ll get maternity allowance surely ? Can’t help with the rest though but someone else likely will soon.

Just bear in mind they will have to pay you outstanding statutory holiday owed and your notice period also. When did you intend to start your maternity leave?

I was intending to start my maternity leave on the 23rd of April.

I’m not sure, I’m not sure how maternity allowance works, it was just standard maternity leave I had the first time with my toddler.

Your employer must pay stat mat pay
unless your employment ends before the "qualifying week" (typically the 15th week before your due date), but you might be able to claim Maternity Allowance instead depending on your circumstances.

Agree, think you will still get smp as well as any redundancy and holiday pay owed.

My understanding is if you were employed in the qualifying period they need to pay your SMP - it needs to form part of your final salary payment. They can pay it in a lump sum and reclaim it from HMRC as usual.

If the business is closing down you need to establish if there is any money in the pot for redundancy pay from them. If the business has gone bankrupt there will be nothing left. I know there are schemes that pay in place of the business etc. so i would probably speak to citizens advise or pregnant then screwed to see what to do if that is the case. Im sorry you are going through this BTW, if must be really stressful. Try not to worry too much, there will be a way around the situation.

How long have you worked there?

Thank you! I didn’t realise this, that’s good news, hopefully they’ll do this.

So the impression I got was that there’s still some money to settle everything rather than them having gone completely bankrupt, but I wasn’t given a lot of details

I’ve been there 6 (nearly 7) years!

Well the good news is that (obviously apart from losing your job - sorry about that) you shouldn't lose out on anything else you are entitled to. Either the employer will pay, or the RPS will pay (if they can't), so hopefully it isn't going to be too awful. Obviously a lot depends on the details you don't yet know, but it could be worse. And you get a fresh start after baby is born and you want to return to work (assuming you do).

@Hermione0408 the same happened to me but literally a week before I was due to go on mat leave. There was no money left at all so I had to claim maternity allowance. It was quick and easy and I would only have got SMP from my old employer so it was a similar amount to what I would have got anyway. When that finished I could claim job seekers allowance (it's called something different now) until I found a new job after my mat leave.

And I got a decent redundancy as I'd been there 10 years, I think it was around 9k in the end. To be honest, I'd been planning to look for another job eventually anyway as my old job wasn't very family friendly, so it all worked out well in the end, although I know it was a shock when it happened

Your nursery funding may be a problem when you come to renew the code. Do you know what the renewal date is? If your no longer employed as the business is closed you won't be able to renew the code