Working and no maternity leave!

[scandicmum85]

Hi all, I dont know if you could help me with this issue I have... As maybe some of you know I am not from here and just moved over from Scandinavia, I am self employed and run my own business.. I have no idea what my rights are here but I am paying british tax etc. I have only been working for two months, and I think I wont be getting any "maternity leave".. As where I am from, its normal to have 12 months off.. I will and I have choosed to work fulltime after baby is born, luckily I can work from home but I am nervous, I dont know if it will be hard with a new born baby... I wonder if any of you are going straight back to work after birth or whats normal in this country.. I dont know if I will put too much pressure on myself working alot and have a baby same time, I will be breastfeeding and I know with my child now aged 5 breastfeeding can take lots of your time and I was off from when I had my daughter... But I dont think I have any choice now... Hope I can make it work somehow... Nervous!! x

 

[beanster]

Think you should ask your midwife for some info on maternity rights and also look on the web, type in maternity pay etc. There are different kinds depending on whether you are employed by someone or working for yourself, on benifits etc I think.

 

[Sarah13]

I think you can claim some maternity pay such as maternity allowance if you can prove your earnings and have worked at least 26 weeks before baby is due, so you at least will get a few weeks off so you can establish a routine and recover from the birth. If you contact the local job centre or benefits office they can give you the forms and let you know more.

Lots of women here take about 9 - 12 months off but all depends on the company they work for and if they can afford it. Self employed women decide what they can afford to take off.

I'm a student just now and did plan to just continue my studies but as it's a stressful course (architecture) I'm going to have a year out. With my daughter I had 4 months off but that was 14 years ago so things were different then!

 

[mdsremos]

you say your self employed working from home but what type of work do you do?
Just thinking about how things were when Ollie was a newborn and it was a matter of getting things done such as housework when he slept which was quite abit in the beginning and even now he can have an average 1-2 hours in the morning and again in the afternoon but other than that he needs entertaining and I bottle feed which probably doesnt take as much time as breastfeeding, especially in the beginning.
You need to give yourself sometime to recover and by law in the UK there has to be 6 weeks from the birth of a child before you can return to being an employee....

 

[Tracey M]

Im self employed travel agent. I work on my own and have a shop. I will continue to work up till the end and will mix working from home and opening shop on appointment basis. I Cant afford time off. I did get maternity benefit last time but only about £150 a week. I need to brush up on this too cos I Cant remember how to claim and for how long.... There must be a website for this on direct.gov.UK

 

[meggymum]

There is a good site here which gives all sorts of advice on Maternity Benefits: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/...-a-guide-to-maternity/maternity-allowance-ma/

 

[scandicmum85]

Thank you, I am doing a webshop and I do personal shopping services etc. Export to Scandianvia from UK... I will look up that and have a look, I would want to be able to work when I have the baby and cant really afford not to .. x

 

[Tracey M]

There is a good site here which gives all sorts of advice on Maternity Benefits: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/publications/...-a-guide-to-maternity/maternity-allowance-ma/

Perfect!!! Thanks !!!