Pregnancy rights within first six months/a year of new job?

[Iloveautumn]

Hi,
I am hoping to get a job which should start next Feb/March. We are also ttc. I know you have to be in post for a certain amount of time to get full maternity pay; but where do you stand if you are not in post a year?

Can you take the same amount of maternity leave?

Do you have the same legal rights regarding keeping your job open etc?

Thanks, I don't want to question my prospective employers on this for obvious reasons!

Many companies only pay SMP and you have to be at least 1 week pregnant before starting the job to qualify. If they offer more than SMP in their contracts, its usually has a qualifying period - some one year, some two etc.

They have to keep the job role open for you for OML, if you take full AML then only a similar job has to be offered.

You have the same maternity leave rights as anyone else, regardless of length of service.

Maternity pay can differ depending on when you start in a new job. As HappyMummy says, statutory maternity pay is dependent on your start date. I generally think of it as you need to not be pregnant when you start the job to get SMP (although that's not quite accurate and it depends slightly on pay periods, etc, it's a good rule of thumb). Enhanced company maternity pay often needs six months, a year or two years of service to qualify. You'd only find this out by checking the policy (asking to see the Company Handbook once an offer has been made is a good way to find this out without alterting them to the details of why you're interested!).

As long as you have worked enough over the past couple of years and you have earned enough to pay NI during sme of this time you will be entitled to Maternity Allowance, payable by the DWP instead of your employer. It is paid at the standard rate of SMP (c. £125pwk this tax year) for 39 weeks.
An upside of MA is that it doesn't count as income for tax credits.

Thank you for your responses - apologies for not getting back to this sooner. Your comments are helpful, thank you.