advice needed re: imminent redundancy

[Piggiesmum]

ANy advice or thoughts on the following would be appreciated.

I am anticipating being made redundant this week. I have just reached the 15th week before my EWC. I've done a bit of searching and it would appear that I will now qualify for SMP even if I am made redundant. However I don't yet have my MAT B1. I have my next antenatal appointment tomorrow noon so should!! get it then.

If i am made/told i am redundant before I have the MATB1 to prove my date does this disqualify me from SMP or would I be better not going into work until I have it and give it to personel as soon as arrive with my letter stating when I intend to start Mat leave (assuming I'm not redundant) before they get chance to inform me I am redundant.

If they tell you your job is redundant, won't they give you any notice? how long have you been with the organisation? You don't need to worry about the MATB1 - you can take give it to your employers when your doctor issues it. The important thing is that you have notified your employer that you are pregnant, that you will take maternity leave (and when you intend to start maternity leave). I hope you are wrong and that you are not made redundant.

Thanks for the reply sis T

There will be a lot of people going so we have all had notice that redundancies will occur. They are speaking to all the people who will definately go this week. They know I am pregnant and will be taking Maternity and roughly when, but I haven't yet confirmed the date.

I have been there 4 years so will get 4 weeks notice anyway which would take me up to the earliest time I can start mat leave. I was just paranoid that I might loose SMP because I was made redundant before I could start it or inform them of definate finalised dates.

Hi Piggiesmum, as sis says, as long as you have informed your employers of the rough date of your EWC, then the MATB1 is a formality.

I work in Personnel, so if you have any other queries, I will happily try and help.

There is a v good website www.tiger.gov.uk that should also help you.

Here's hoping your job is safe.

Hi Betty and thanks for the link.

Well I handed in my Mat B1 with all my official dates and letter stating when I intend to leave.

Half an hour later I got my -your job is "at risk" blah blah blah- letter.

So am I right in assuming that as of yet I am not officially redundant and since I have officially informed them of the dates and am in my 15th week before EWC, then they will now have to pay me SMP. Or is it not that straightforward. The potential area of contention I think may occur is because my original questimate of EDD was one week later than what it is officially now.

Sorry if i sound like I'm repeating myself. I just want to be sure of my facts/rights etc.

Piggiesmum, the letter you received seems to be the start of the consultation period and from what you have said, i don't think you have even been made redundant (yet, [sad}). At the end of the (usually two weeks) consultation period, if your job is redundant, you will either be given notice of redundancy or paid in lieu of notice. When you leave, you should also get redundancy pay.

Sorry, forgot to add the most important bit - you are entitled to your statutory maternity pay as you have formally notified them of the date you wish to start maternity leave and you were employed at the 15th week before the expected week of birth.

I think Sis must also work in Personnel! This is the start of the consultation period; the termination of employment date could be months away even, and if you are already at 15 weeks before the EWC then you are without doubt eligible for SMP.

Industrial Relations donchaknow!

Thanks sis.

I stumbled on the info on Monday night and couldn't quite believe I'd been lucky enough to have just made it to the 15th week in time. Just needed someone to confirm I was understanding it right.

Sadly i think the letter is just a formality so they can be seen to be doing the right thing etc etc. However by the time I get my notice + redundancy pay and then the SMP it turns out I won't be so badly off as I thought I would be.

Thank too Betty.

Thye've told us redundancies will be finalised by the end of this or next week. They are moving pretty quickly.

I have a meeting to discuss my 'options' tomorrow.

well, one thing you could suggest, is that you could start maternity leave at the end of what would have been your notice period and that they don't make you redundant until you return from maternity leave by which time things may have changed and redundancy may be unnecessary. Even if they then make you redundant when you return to work - you may have another year of service to add to your notice period and redundancy pay.

Just a suggestion.

What a fab idea. You can start your maternity leave from the 11th week before the EWC if I remember rightly which would probably tie in with the redundancy date. As sis says, your continuous service would increase and you could be in for more redundancy dosh.

Thats one option I have looked into, but as things stand at the moment and the way some people have behaved I don't think I even want to go back. (Some people even suspect the company may not still be around in 6 months time!) That being the case I have worked out that I would probably be better off taking the redundancy and notice payment right now. I wouldn't gain any extra redundancy by waiting till I was due to come back, as I still wouldn't have completed an extra year on top of what i have now.

As I suspected the 'options' meeting was just a prodedural formality. They've already decided who they want to go and thats that.

They are going to look into whether they can delay making me redundant possibly until I reach the time I stated I wanted to go on Maternity Leave - mid October. I think I would be hapy with that but I'm not holding my breath

I had to point out that I'm entitled to full SMP but at least there was no arguement from them. They don't have to deal with many pregnancies as the workforce is about 80%/20% men/women. It may balance out by the end of the week but the fact that redundancies so far seem to be 20%/80% men/women could be a whole other issue!!

Been through a simalar situation.

If you are 25 weeks pregnant at time of redundancy (including by the end of the notice period) you are entitled to all your maternity pay in one lump sum when you leave.

The fact they dont have your MATB1 yet is irrelevant.

Wow really! now that would be very handy.

So do you just get the whole lot (notice, redundancy, SMP) in one big fat final paypacket

That sounds familiar; obviously it would only be the redundancy pay element that was tax free though.