How much maternity pay are you getting?

Question

I've just been told that I will be given 6 weeks of 90% of the salary and after that a statutory pay of £108/- per week! I'm not entitled to any benefits - work too hard - earn too much! Is this the same for everyone - are there more generous employers anywhere in the UK. No wonder children are unluckiest in the UK!

Answer 1

HI - what your company is paying is what any company legally has to for an employee going on maternity. Currently statutory maternity pay (SMP) is paid for 26 weeks however if your baby is due after 1st April this year you will benefit from the new ruling whereby SMP is paid for 39 weeks. I am also on maternity leave having worked in a senior role for a major retailer. My maternity pay was the exact same as yours (the minimum!) although my company paid me full pay for the first 6 weeks as opposed to 90%. I think this is pretty standard although I have a friend who worked for a Canadian bank and she was paid 13 weeks full pay! You have to be careful though as a lot of companies who pay over and above the minimum entitlement often have a clause that states you must return to work for at least 3 months after your maternity ends or you need to pay an element of the monies back. Good luck!

Answer 2

That's the standard statutory entitlement in the UK. Most commercial firms are the same - although if you work in the public sector, you will most likely get a much better deal. All funded by the tax payer, of course...

You will also get child benefit of about £17 per week and you may be eligible for tax credits.

Answer 3

There are more generous employers but I think these tend to be the bigger companies such as BBC. You are just getting the statutory minimum which I was also getting, you will be entitled to child benefit and also put in a claim for tax credits. If you tell them you are on maternity leave so your income will dramatically fall in that tax year they base the calculation of what you are entitled to on an estimated earning figure for that tax year which you will need to provide them with. As you are on maternity leave when you give them this figure you need deduct to the first 2600 you earn in that year which is basically your maternity pay then give them the remaining figure to calculate payments on. It sounds a bit complex and its not explained clearly in the tax credit pack. But when your on maternity leave every little helps.

Answer 4

I was very, very lucky. I got six months on full pay with continuous pension benefits and even accrued my leave. It made a huge difference because I was able to enjoy my maternity leave. I'm pg again and it will make a big difference this time round again because my husband will be away and I'll be on my own for six months (he goes 2 weeks before my due date), so the extra money will mean that I can put my daughter into day care a couple of days a week and concentrate on the baby and getting a couple of naps.

Answer 5

Almost 3 years ago my company paid:
90% for 6weeks
Then 20 weeks at 50% + statutory maternity pay, i'm hoping tey are going to be as generous this time round.

Answer 6

Join the club, I'll get the same as you!

My new employers offer full salary maternity for their employees with over 1yr of service.

Unfortunately due to my partners job, we had to relocate and I only joined them 4mths ago.

Although I can understand why they have this rule. I've worked hard since I was 17yrs old and am gutted

Finance wise, I managed to extend the amount of leave I could afford by changing my mortgage payments to 'interest only' during this leave period.

After an initial moan & panic about finances, I reminded myself how lucky I was to be having a baby
(oh & not to moan to my employers too much as i wanted to return to my job!)

Answer 7

Yes it sucks , it's not fair and yes i have had several tantrums about it.On top of that i've ended up a single mother...however it has worked to my advantage.The goverment will pay 80% of nursery fees so i can go back to work and i'm getting child tax credits , working tax credits and child benefit and daddy is paying 15% of his salary. If i choose not to go back to work for now then i will get all my rent paid and all my council tax paid and receive more child tax credits and income support. The only problem i have now is whether to stay at home and tighten my belt or leave my baby with strangers and go back to work and be able to give her lots of luxury? Another day another problem.......... and the new maternity pay structure.....bloody typical seeing as i had my baby in December!!!!!!!!

Answer 8

Hey be happy you get paid maternity leave at all. Here in the U.S at least where I am we don't get any! We take unpaid disability leave for 6 - 8 weeks!!! Some people can't afford to take the time off from work so they go back a week later. Talk about not fair.

Answer 9

Some employers are more generous; but generally their generosity varies in proportion to how long you've worked for them - so longer term employees get more.

So, for instance (scurries off to check employee handbook), if I were pregnant (I'm not!) I'd get 6 weeks on full pay (Inclusive of SMP) and then 20 weeks half pay (exclusive of any SMP I'm entitled to).

Answer 10

No interest I truthfully have ever had presented paid maternity depart. I do think of that in case you have put in a definite quantity of hours which you'll be presented paid depart, confident.. Why.. via fact lots of the civilized international has it..and no i did no longer click the link. i comprehend some those that have taken almost no day off of paintings after having a infant via fact they could no longer incredibly arise with the money for to. those that I knew that took 6 weeks off extensively utilized holiday time in this time so as that they've been getting some form of money. a lot of places take unemployment taxes out of you yet maximum states do no longer enable you to even get partial unemployment for having a infant. you're unemployed once you're on depart "technically", yet lots of the time you're no longer even going to qualify for unemployment advantages mutually as being unemployed via having a infant, even nonetheless you comprehend once you're going back to paintings, lots of the time. i think of this could get replaced, you need to not be accumulating on it for years at a time, you would be accumulating on it for an extremely short quantity of time and it would help out a kinfolk that's locate to 2 earning whilst they have a infant and are decreased to easily the single for a jiffy. Granted unemployment is often some million/2 of what you're making, yet that's a strategies greater valuable than no longer something. There are too many those that flow back to paintings a strategies in the previous they'd desire to because of this. could you think of if there have been issues and you had to take the finished 12 weeks off, or whether you had to take 12 weeks off and could no longer given which you had to make money to offer on your loved ones, and then the issues basically have been given worse given which you have aggravated a topic... Bonus: i'm guessing that approximately sixty 5% of the international has paid maternity depart. Now i visit flow click that link via fact i'm curious how close i grew to become into :-) Yeah i grew to become into off, I knew that maximum different countries presented it, yet I had no concept that it grew to become into THAT many!