What Maternity Pay Scheme do you all have?

[KJ]

hiya,

just curious really. I work for a newly set-up company who haven't yet decided on what they will offer for maternity pay.

Just wanted to get an idea of what other companies tend to offer. For example, just statutory, or does anyone get this supplemented? Or does anyone have a return to work bonus scheme?

You don't have to give me figures, just 90% for 6 weeks, 2 months, etc or 100% for 3 months then 50% for 3, etc, etc.

Hope this makes sense!

K.xxx

 

[valentine]

Hi KJ,

Just SMP - which is 90% for 6 weeks, then £100 odds for the following 33 weeks - then you can take an additional 13 weeks with no pay and return to work.

Valentine xxx

 

[Snuggle]

I'm in the Forces so my entitlements are completely different. As far as I know, the maternity entitlements are changing as of 1st Apr but I might be wrong. Think I saw that on here somewhere

 

[topbird]

Standard - 6 weeks at 90% of salary then 33 weeks at SMP, + an additional 3 months unpaid.

If you come back after 9 months you get same job and same package guaranteed. If you take a year then you can be given a different job or lose some of your benefits eg car, laptop etc...

 

[weenik]

Ours hasn't been updated yet with the new 9 months, but as I've worked there for over 2 years I'll get: 12 weeks full pay, 6 weeks half pay then the rest at SMP (Which I think they will up to cover for 9 months now). If I return to work I get an extra months wage as an incentive, then 6 months later I get another one. I know I'm quite lucky to get this. If I leave within 6 months of any of my extra payments though, I need to pay it back

 

[smurf]

I'll just get the 90% for first six weeks (I hope) and £108 for rest of 9 months. I'm a secondment employee so don't get many benefits but I will stay on the books so once I'm ready to go back to work the agency will try and place me asap.

 

[eightball]

The benefits at my place are set to change from April 1st.
Originally you just got the standard 6 weeks full pay then the 108 quid a week. BUT for the first two years when you got back you got a 25% uplift on your salary.
Now they are paying more maternity but taking away the uplift ( )

It works out as:
6 weeks at 90%
20 weeks at 60%
13 weeks at 50%
(and the rest of the year at 40% I think)

Luckily there is a transision period as this is such a big change and they still give me the extra amount of money I'm losing because they've taken away the uplift. But only if you have your baby before Nov 1st - so already this little thing has a big price tag!

 

[KJ]

thanks for all the replies, it's very interesting.

I'm hoping to know what my boss has decided sometime later this afternoon, but am just hoping that it'll be better than statutory.

After my degree I did a PhD and that has left me in a lot of debt, so the more I get the better.

K.xx

 

[topbird]

SMP sucks doesn't it - it doesn't even cover my share of the mortgage - going to be a bit of a reality check, I have been earning more than that a week since I was 14!

 

[delmesgirl]

mie does 8 weeks full pay, then 18 weeks half pay +SMP

but cos i moved jobs while i was pregnant, i don't know if i'm going to get it yet or not - have written to my HR dept and am waiting to hear back from them about their decision - fingers crossed otherwise it's going to be a bank loan

 

[Tangerinedream]

weeks 1-6 90%
weeks 7-18 50% + SMP
weeks 18- 39 SMP
weeks 40-52 nothing

 

[Flame]

I get 6 weeks at 90% or full pay then on to smp.

 

[mayday]

I get just SMP - a bit of a comedown from what I normally take home. My employers (the world's favourite airline!) are the meanest bunch out there. I'm not able to do my normal job because I'm pregnant, so they've given me a ground based job, along with a pay cut because I'm not flying . So even my 6 weeks at 90% is not 90% of what I normally earn. SMP is less than 10% of what I would normally get in my pay packet.

 

[Nicola]

I don't get any but then again I don't work!!

 

[Tangerinedream]

I get just SMP - a bit of a comedown from what I normally take home. My employers (the world's favourite airline!) are the meanest bunch out there. I'm not able to do my normal job because I'm pregnant, so they've given me a ground based job, along with a pay cut because I'm not flying . So even my 6 weeks at 90% is not 90% of what I normally earn. SMP is less than 10% of what I would normally get in my pay packet.

Im pretty sure they are allowed to cut your pay because you cannot do your proper job while preggers

http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=873

This doesnt state that exactly but if you have a union rep you should talk to them.

 

[mayday]

You are right - they aren't allowed to cut my pay. I could fight them over it, but the pilot's union are already taking a separate action over a different but related pay cutting situation which should be resolved in a couple of weeks. It's a situation that the union have already won at a different airline, and the hopes are high that it will be successful too for us. It will be much easier to get money out of them by this route than taking an individual case. And I'm really saving up for the fight I'm going to have to get part time, which is a much more important issue for me.

Here's how my employer treated the last woman who asked for part-time;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/4471851.stm

The bit about not having 2000 hrs experience is a rule they made up after they lost the first case. They lost that because they initially denied her part-time on the grounds they couldn't afford it. This, in a year they made millions of pounds of profit. It costs approximately £1350 a year more in training fees to have a pilot go part-time, so hardly likely to break the bank. I have over 5000 hrs experience, and am experienced enough to be a captain, so they'll struggle to pull that one on me. But who knows how they'll move the goalposts for me!

 

[Sabrina]

I can take up to a year off for maternity leave. They say it's "enhanced". I will get :-

6 weeks at 100%
20 weeks at 30%
13 weeks at SMP (£108.85 currently).
plus a final 13 weeks unpaid

(My pension contributions are paid for the full 39 weeks)

There's also a provision to get paid for up to 10 days at work during the maternity leave period. They call these days "Keeping in Touch" days and they can be for working or training. The pay from these days is IN ADDITION to the maternity pay.

My firm hadn't updated their policy. I had to draw their attention to it after reading about the 39 weeks here and checking the facts on the Dept of Work and Pensions site. I'm really glad I did.


Sabrina

 

[topbird]

6 weeks at 100%
20 weeks at 30%
13 weeks at SMP (£108.85 currently).
plus a final 13 weeks unpaid

There's also a provision to get paid for up to 10 days at work during the maternity leave period. They call these days "Keeping in Touch" days and they can be for working or training. The pay from these days is IN ADDITION to the maternity pay.

Sabrina

That is quite a good deal

Oh yeah - I can do this too - cannot see it happening though somehow! SMP has gone up to £112.50 (I think - was what i was told by HR)