Getting Pregnant while on Mat Leave

[Charlie:-)]

Me & Hubby have always said that we would like our children close together so we have been talking about when we would like to TTC no2.

My intention is to go back to work part time and before I started my mat leave I put in a request to change my working hours to part time on my return. I had a verbal agreement that this was ok but nothing in writing.

My question is, if I fall pregnant whilst still on maternity leave, am I entitled to change my mind and go back full time even though I may only be working for say 8 weeks as an example before I take mat leave again. My reason for doing this is obviously so I can get may pay at my full time wage.

Do you think this is cheeky?

 

[Bloom]

I suppose it depends what sort of a company you work.

I would feel cheeky for doing it but at the end of the day your family is far more important and if it makes the difference between getting smp again or not (or less money on a part time wage) then i would be prepared to be cheeky.

 

[Charlie:-)]

I suppose it depends what sort of a company you work.

Thanks for your reply Bloom, I work for bank its a fairly large company I work in their head office and the way things are going at the moment I might not have a job to go back to (I dont work for HBOS BTW but you never know which company is going to be next), maybe they will be glad of me going on mat leave again? Think I will give ACAS a call to see what they think.

I think it is quite cheeky to say I want to go back part time then change my mind and then announce im pregnant again but like you say my family is more important than my career at the moment. Also once I have finished mat leave for the 2nd time I plan on applying for a career break so hopefully wont be going back for a while longer.

 

[BeckyJ]

we would like our children close together and if all goes to plan i will be pregnant when i go back to work so wont be there long before i go on mat leave again, i know it seems cheeky but its what works best for you and your family that is the main thing x

 

[kalia]

Something to think about - SMP is worked out on your income during the 8 weeks before the 15th week before your due date usually. So weeks 18-25 I think. If you are on SMP at that time then remember that you will get 90% of that for your next leave as you get the lower amount of £117 a week or 90% of your income. If at that point you would be on maternity leave but your SMP will have finished you would have to look into whether you would qualify for MA. It's not based on working those weeks but on what your income is - so if you are paid at the end of the month you may have to go back at 14 weeks pregnant to get full pay for your next maternity pay. As you said you are going back for 8 weeks I assume the earliest you would be back is 21 weeks so regardless of whether you work full time or not you will not be entitled to full pay.

If your work offer an enhanced maternity pay then check see how long you have to return to work for them after to keep the money - check with HR that they will give you more than just SMP with such a short gap. If they will then in the long run working full time for 8 weeks could get you more money though you may have to pay childcare for those 8 weeks which will eat into that money.