signed off for bed rest at 31 weeks...sick pay or mat leave???

[kirstyleicester]

I have been signed off from work due to pregnancy related illness and am 31 weeks pregnant.

does anyone know what i am entitled to?

Do i need to start my mat leave now or can i claim sick pay upto 36 weeks then start mat leave?

any advice would be much appreciated

thanks x

Think you have to start your mat leave if you are less than 11 weeks prior to your "expected week of confinement".

You will get your normal sick pay until 36 weeks, at which point your maternity leave will start automatically.

I think tht as you are not yet 36 weeks, you are entitled to take the time as sick pay and then go onto maternity pay when you reach 36 weeks.

It is difficult though, I felt terribly guilty when I was in this position and agreed to start my maternity leave at 30 weeks, rather than having more sick pay (I had already been signed off sick for months of my pg).

i dont have a writen contract conserning sick pay but i have been with the family for 5 years and have been lucky enough to be paid in full for time i have had of sick in the past...which has been on very rare occasions. do i have any legal right to full pay or just statutory sick pay. I dont want to take advantage of the family but i don't want to use up a big chunk of mat pay if i dont need to. Thanks for your help

If your contract doesn't mention sick pay then all you will be entitled to is statutory sick pay, which isn't much. Why don't you talk it over with your employer, perhaps come to a compromise where they pay you full pay for a short time and you bring your mat leave forward a bit, might be better than only getting SSP for the next 5 weeks.

Flowery is right I'm afraid. The only exception I would add is that, if the family have routinely paid full pay for longer illnesses (for example if there have been a couple of incidents of month long absences for broken legs or operations or whatnot) there might be a slight argument that they've set a precedent. TBH, it's pretty unlikely in a small company.

Flowery's idea of a compromise is a good one. Alternatively, do you have any holiday you could use up. You've presumably not taken much of your 2010 allowance if you run on a calendar year. A relative of mine had bad SPD and her doctor was happy to sign her well enough to go 'back to work' if she was on holiday, so her sick note said something like "In my opinion, the patient is not well enough to perform her duties, but is well enough to be absent from work on holiday rather than sick leave." Relies on the employer playing along a bit, but I guess they felt that their back was covered by the note.

thanks for your help everyone. have decided to start my mat leave and will get paid for my accrued holiday at the end as i will be made redundant when i am due to return as i am a nanny and the children will all be in full time school by the end of the year. I have looked into the tax credits and have found that once i am past the 6 weeks at 90% pay and move onto SMP at £123.50 a week i will get quite a lot more in tax credits which will infact bump me up to what i was earning originally....they even allow you £100 a week deduction on what you declaire when on mat leave...i could hardly believe it!! so i am very relieved that we wont have to sell the kids or eat the guinea pigs!!! thanks again xx