How bad is my maternity benefits in comparison to yours?

[Julie84]

I shall be getting the absolute minimum too.

I was having a look at the company handbook the other day and it seems there are wonderful benefits in all other areas - just maternity they seem to look dimly on. For example, if I was sick rather than pregnant I would get 13 weeks full pay before going on SSP because I have worked there for more than 2 years!

My company (which I loved) have been shocking since I told them I was pregnant. It upset me tobegin with but now I just annoy them by having antenatal appointments in the middle of the day (and I live a 45 minute journey from work so that is a lot of time they have to pay me for when I am not there!) I don't ask the surgery for awkward appointments I just take what they give me and all the awkward slots seem to be what they have left over. I'm quite happy to oblige now!

 

[Strangeness]

6 weeks at 100% and then SMP.

 

[poppy160]

Hi All,

Ive never really thought about maternity benefits and what is good and bad until recently.

Where i work i get 90% pay for 6 weeks and then SMP for the remainder. Theres no incentives to go back early and my company doesnt do childcare vouchers.

What benefits do you get out of interest?

Claire x

Mines the same.

 

[mdsremos]

Mmm seems that working for the NHS certainly has its benefits when looking at maternity benefits....lets hope the application I recently put in for an admin/clerical roles comes off as we are planning for another one in a year or two,

 

[mayday]

I have a job you can't do when you are pregnant, so had to be assigned to an alternative job or take unpaid leave while I was pregnant. In the job I do you get paid a basic wage and an hourly rate. The way they calculated what I should be paid whilst pregnant mean that I took home £700 a month less for the 8 months I was not able to do my real job. Then I got 90% of my basic for 6 weeks (ie about 50% of what I would expect to earn normally,) then SMP. As I had previously been a high rate tax payer I paid 40% tax on my SMP (although I have been able to claim that back since,) meaning I had an income of about £60 a week - about 1 eighteenth of my old salary

Do I win a prize

Then when I went back to work I had to work full time, including the 10 nights a month away from home which my employer insisted on - hard work trying to keep up feeding a baby on breastmilk, but I managed it! It was her biting and drawing blood that stopped me I was able to get a 50% contract at work and will now only have to work away overnight for about 3 or 4 nights a month, but it was only easy to get this part time role after a colleague fought an extremely high profile (we are talking front page of the national newspapers here) court battle and had to fight appeals by my employer too.

 

[~*Leanne*~]

I get 12 weeks 90% pay then the rest SMP!

 

[kerryp]

who said working for the NHS has benefits? I work for them.... ill be getting 6 wks 90% then the 33wks SMP. If i had worked for them for 4 weeks more i would have got more pay which is very annoying as i HAVE worked for them for longer but it was via their "bank agency" and because hours werent contracted/regular they cant be counted! I did that for a yr & half wasnt happy when found out it wouldnt be counted.... surely they could have found 4 wks worth of work within the yr & half i was doing that!!! Ahhhh well. Work has also said i shouldnt "struggle" if im short of money & can come back anytime i like.... YEAH RIGHT. I'll never get the chance to have this time off again!!!

 

[Bagpuss17]

I get 6 months full pay and then 3 months SMP. Plus they offer the childcare voucher scheme. I feel quite fortunate by comparison to a lot of you.

 

[Llys]

I'm on the basic 6 weeks then the remainder of SMP.

HOWEVER, I did find out two weeks ago I'm entitled to child tax credits (if you earnt under £20,000 last year, you'll get almost £45 a week if this is your first child, that's what I've been told!! CLAIM CLAIM CLAIM!!!!)

and NEXT YEAR, because my whole tax year this year will be made up of SMP, I'll have a P60 that states about £2000 income with the rest as maternity pay, so when I'm back at work, I'll be getting working tax credits for a year because it's based on the prior years income!

Figure that out someone if you can!!! I get the money I need, the year AFTER I need it!

 

[mdsremos]

You can ask the Tax Credits people to base the award on what you will be receiving for the coming year BUT you will have to repay some of it back when you submit your renewal as we found out....Mmm seemed a good idea at the time but now we owe them £1400.00, oh well!

 

[Llys]

ah but I'm luckily off for a full tax year (went off end March, back beginning April) so in actual fact, my whole year is based on SMP

 

[firstangel]

I get

39 weeks full Pay
13 weeks Unpaid.

Think I will just take the 9 months off ( 39 weeks ) , havent decided fully yet.

 

[nori]

I get

39 weeks full Pay
13 weeks Unpaid.

Think I will just take the 9 months off ( 39 weeks ) , havent decided fully yet.

OH MY GOD.. are there any jobs going??

 

[Charmed]

I get

39 weeks full Pay
13 weeks Unpaid.

Think I will just take the 9 months off ( 39 weeks ) , havent decided fully yet.

WOW, that is amazing, lucky you.

I get weeks 1 - 18 at my normal monthly pay, weeks 19 - 39 at statutory maternity pay and the remaining 13 weeks unpaid. I'll probably take around six months off.

 

[KirstyD]

I get

39 weeks full Pay
13 weeks Unpaid.

Think I will just take the 9 months off ( 39 weeks ) , havent decided fully yet.

Where do you work?

 

[maybebaby]

I get the bare minimum too but I work for a really small company & we wouldn't be able to afford to pay me more.

 

[CazH]

I work for one of the biggest banks in the UK and get just 14weeks fullm pay then stat maturnity pay. How crap, spoke to a customer other day came from india 2 years ago she work for NHS and got 6mths full pay. How lucky wish goverment would give all mums at least 6mths full pay they want more families god damn them!

 

[firstangel]

I get

39 weeks full Pay
13 weeks Unpaid.

Think I will just take the 9 months off ( 39 weeks ) , havent decided fully yet.

OH MY GOD.. are there any jobs going??

Yeh my Maternity Cover LOL ! never many jobs going, HR told me yest too that in April 2010 its going up to 1 year full pay !

 

[firstangel]

I get

39 weeks full Pay
13 weeks Unpaid.

Think I will just take the 9 months off ( 39 weeks ) , havent decided fully yet.

Where do you work?

Hey I work as an engineer...and we are based on civil servent stuff like the NHS i think. I am very lucky !

 

[Julie84]

I work for one of the biggest banks in the UK and get just 14weeks fullm pay then stat maturnity pay. How crap...

I work for a large (and very profitable) AIM listed company and get the statutory minimum - 14 weeks full pay sounds fabulous to me! The thing that peeves me is my company handbook says I would get 12 weeks full pay before implementing SSP if I was signed off long term sick - it's just the women who cause problems by having babies that don't get anything!