my girlfriend is pregnant and is getting made redundant?

Question

hi there

i need a bit of advice

my girlfriend is pregnant 3 months and has just found out that she will be getting made redundant as the textile firm she works for is "downsizing".

she may get a small redundancy pay out but it will not be much,
i myself work and my basic gross pay is £21,800, we have a morgage on a house and have the usual bills to pay, and a 4 year old son.

so we were counting on her maturnity pay from her employer to help us out when she was on leave. but now she obviously wont be getting that, and there is no chance of her getting another job as no one employs a pregnant woman.

does any one know if she is entitled to maturity money from the government , or tax credits how do we find out what we are entitled too.

many thanks

and please dont just say for me to get a better paid job, because jobs dont pay very well in northern ireland and id need a degree to get more money than im on now, lol

cheers

please excuse the spelling hehe

some people arnt reading the question, i am taking care of her you knob!

im asking about what benifits we are intitled too

Answer 1

Unfortunatly as you are earning what the goverment class as a good wage you won't get a lot. I don't work and my partner earns around the same as you, it covers all our bills and leaves us some free so we're lucky but benifit wise we get £80 a month in tax credits and the usual £17 a week in child benifit although as this is your 2nd child it might be less.

The way the system works is unfair. If a household earns more than £14800 then the goverment do very little in the way of helping you out.

She will stil get Statutory maternity pay at £110 a week for the first 6 months.

Sorry I didn't have better news!

I wish you all the best for the future and if your in any doubt then speak to your local Citizens Advice Beuru, they can help you check you are claiming everything you are intilted to and will help with the legal side of a firm sacking a pregnant woman.

Techinically no company SHOULD discriminate when emplying a pregnant woman but we all know the reality is different and even if she does find a new job many companies only pay company maternity to people that have been employed by them for 16 weeks or more before being pregnant.

Answer 2

Ok - Assuming you are in the uk yes your girlfriend will be entitled to SMP (Staturt maternity pay) its about £102 a week. Go to your local job centre they will fill you in.

Being three months if you are in the uk you will have seen your midwife who will have given you a purple and turquoise book on pregnancy - there is a great section in that back an all of your entitlemants!!!!

lastly you only need to have worked for a conmany 25 weeks befre your due date to be entitled to full benefits so she still has time to look for a new job if she wants.

As for the fella talking about tribunerals - very hard to prove if they have made a few people redundant, get advice but be carefull.

Good luck though - enjoy every minute of the new bubs

Answer 3

hi there i think people are not reading question in full HE HAS A JOB!!!!

For mothers of babies due on or after 1st April 2007:
52 weeks maternity leave from day one of starting a job – the distinction between ordinary and Additional Maternity Leave remains the same.
Statutory Maternity Pay for 39 weeks provided you have worked for your employer for 26 weeks by 15th week before the baby is due. You may qualify for Maternity Allowance if you do not qualify for SMP.
Just to make this clear as long as you have worked for 6 and half months with the same employer by the time she is 3 and half months you can get 39 weeks of paid time off this is by law.
Hope this helps good luck with baby
Kelly xxx

Answer 4

Hi
It does depend how long she has worked for the company. she needs to have worked continuously for 26 weeks before her 15th week of preganancy to receive SMP. Is she is entitled to it, then it will be 6 weeks at 90% of her salary and then 20 weeks at £108.85 (current rates - will change in April) also in April the law is changing to 9 weeks SMP (i think - need to check). If she is entitled to all this, then the company have to pay it. (they would have to even if she just left after receiving the pay.)
I agree with the guy who said go to a tribunal though. Do they know she's pregnant and are making her redundant or has she found out after? If they knew, you could have a case. Good luck xx

Answer 5

i am 7 months pregnant and got made redundant when i was 3 months pregnant your right it is unlikely your girlfriend will be able to get another job what i had to do was claI'm job seekers allowance which is only £80 every 2 weeks and now its only 9 weeks till my baby is due im claiming maternity allowance which is £108 per week like yourself my partner works so we was unable to get any other benefits to help with the mortgage or bills. maternity allowance is paid for 9 months and the earliest you can claim it is 14 weeks b4 your baby is due you may also be able to get a grant for the baby for £500 again you can only claim this 14 weeks b4 your baby is due or once your baby is born.
as soon as your girlfriend gets made redundant go to your local job centre and they should tell you what to claim good look.

Answer 6

I am not from Ireland but I know that here in the U.S.A when a company downsizes then you are normally eligible for unemployment. I don't know if you guys do this or not. Also, your employer needs to be taking part in taking out the unemployment tax.
Believe me, in my medium size town we have seen several huge businesses go under or downsize........and it is always at the most inconvenient of times. Your wife should definitely be entitled to some kind of monies from this.
That's my thoughts anyways.............cheerios!

Answer 7

You could ask if she is entitled to statutary maternity payments from the benefits office i know i did but this was a long time ago because i had to give up work for the sake of the baby. You will be entitled to tax credits once baby is born also child benefits

Answer 8

There are mainly Americans here. Where do you live? Short of not knowing your homeland policies the answer here in CA would be to go apply for unemployment benefits and utilise your savings account - that's what you have it for. Employers here are not liable for most health conditions of their employees (ie: pregnancy) when they're made redundant.

If you have no unemployment benefits program (government paid for a period of time) and no savings, you've got to go to alternate means. Borrow from friends/family, take a mortgage on your home, find part-time work or under-the-table work. It IS hard to find work for a woman who is going to be leaving the job market for a period of time so the focus should be on defining when she's going to go back to work (specifically), determining what you need to do financially to get to that point and to start a real job search closer to that date.

Put a plan in place so you can enjoy the new baby and not stress the whole time.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

Unless they can prove that they did not know she was pregnant before making redundancies, you will more than likely be able to take them to the cleaners in a tribunal