maternity pay/leave

[chellieboo]

Thought I'd post this here as obviously you guys will have some experience of this. Hope you can help...

I know this is probably a bit early to be thinking about this as I'm not even pregnant yet but I have been offered a job interview next week so I've been trying to find out if switching hospital (I work for the NHS) would affect the maternity pay/leave entitlement and if it did by how much.

But now i'm totally confused!!! have read stuff on one website which is my current hospitals page which says I have to have 26 weeks continuous service with that hospital at 11 weeks before expected delivery date (so I calculate that as being I must be employed by them before I'm 3 weeks pregnant) to get statutory maternity pay.

however, the website with the nhs contractual maternity leave stuff on it says I just have to have been employed by the NHS (any hospital) for 1 year b4 expected delivery date to receive all benefits.

I can't find anything for the hospital I'm looking where I'm looking at the new job.

So if I go by my current hospitals webpage then if I took the job and then discovered I was pregnant by more than 3 weeks then I would lose out on some benefits, whereas the NHS page implies that I'd still be entitled to everything.

Sorry this is so long but I really need to know as it may affect whether I may take the job if offered and whether we feel should continue TTC or whether we should put it on hold so I can get the maximm i'm entitled to from my employers?

does anyone have any idea about this at all? can an individual hospital override an nhs policy??

Thanks

 

[Sassyminx]

if your transferring from trust to trust then your continuous service doesnt change, just your job title, it just changes over to the new trust, so in theory your still employed by the nhs as a whole so should be entitled to the pay.

id ring HR cos theyre usually spot on with maternity rights ( im being laid off whilst on maternity leave, and HR manager has bent over backwards to make sure i get everything im entitled to )

if youve worked for them for 1yr itll mean your entitled to full pay throughout the pregnancy, instead of 90% of your earnings, i was on the sick for nearly a year prior to going onto maternity leave and im receiving full pay even though on my qualifying week i didnt actually earn anything as my occ sick pay ran out

i cant see it being a problem personally, your an nhs trust employee regardless

 

[chellieboo]

thanks Sassyminx. that helps. I'll try ringing HR tomorrow if I have time. have been employed by NHS for over 5 years now so should be entitled to something!!

so in theory my "employer" is the NHS not the trust...is that right?

 

[chellieboo]

Do you think I'd be better off calling HR at the new trust as it would be their policy that matters to me? or just call HR where I am now?

 

[nathanmum]

that sounds right its the NHS that employ you not the trust when it comes to maternity pay it doesnt make a difference what job you do as long as you stay employed with them.

 

[chellieboo]

Well i phoned HR at the new hospital and the person I spoke to said I should be entitled to the full maternity leave/pay as I've been working for the NHS for over a year..Hurrah!

thanks for all your advice.

 

[Sassyminx]

sorry i forgot to check this, glad you got it sorted, the NHS are pretty good at looking after employee's

 

[cassi]

thats good so you can move job and still get paid!