Maternity Allowance

[WnnabeMummy]

Can any body please tell me at what stage your employer needs prove of due date?

I have started a new job and will only be entitiled to full pay during OML if I have been here "more than 26 weeks before the 15th week before the baby is due".

From the dates I have I will miss it by a week!

If I "change" my dates, will my due date match what I say? and when is this provided?

Thanks

 

[valentine]

Hi WnnabeMummy,

It's not possible to change dates I'm afraid - your midwife will give you your MATB1 form for you to give to your employer at between 20-25 weeks pregnant and you can't tamper with this. This is what your employer must base any calculations on. You may not be entitled to SMP either (rather than full pay) as I think the qualifying period is the same. That's really unfortunate, however, hopefully you'll manage to find a way around this problem.

I think (although I have no direct experience of this) that you can still use the MATB1 form to claim a similar amount of Maternity Allowance (same as SMP) from the job centre if you do not qualify for SMP or any pay from your employer. However, this obviously wouldn't be as good as full pay would be!

I hope this helps.

Love

Valentine xxx

 

[Anna B]

Did you include the 15th week in your calculations? I think it might be 'upto and including' the 15th week, so if you didn't include it, you might be just in there!! Hope so!

 

[WnnabeMummy]

Thanks guys!

Anna B: My contract says you have to have been workign continuously for 26 weeks at the beginning of the 15th week.

Valentine: My work do pay SMP as standard but I can no way afford my mortgage with that!

Who knows maybe i'll be lucky and i will qualify by a day or something!

Never mind i suppose there are people worse of than me, I figure something out.

 

[Anna B]

http://www.workingfamilies.org.uk/asp/family_zone/fs_pr1_matrights.asp

Print out that and show it to them. It clearly states that upto the END of the 15th week counts, so if they are saying the beginning, the contract is illegal!! Check it out with citizens advice to be totally sure, but it looks like you will be ok

 

[WnnabeMummy]

Thank you, i really appreciate your help.

It's all so confusing, and it's only just begun.

 

[valentine]

Valentine: My work do pay SMP as standard but I can no way afford my mortgage with that!

Hi WnnabeMummy,

Definitely not trying to make things more difficult for you - just wanted to make you aware that legally the qualifying time for SMP for all jobs is the same:-

To qualify for SMP you must have 26 weeks continuous service by the end of the 15th week before your baby is due. This roughly means that as long as you started the job before you became pregnant, and you have worked for at least a day or part of a day in each week since then, you will meet the service requirement.

Taken from this website, which has some brilliant resources on your rights and benefits etc.

I really hope that you manage to slip in under the wire or your employers are more lenient, however I'm sorry if I'm the bearer of bad news - I just wanted you to be fully aware of the situation.

Love

Valentine xxx