MSE Pregnancy Club III

angelfairy

morning ladies,

how are we all today? me, i'm gearing up for a busy day at work, but at least it's friday and hubby's not out this week so i will finally get to spend some time with him.

off to boots today to buy a set of baby wipes 3 for £3 and activate my double advantage points from the parents club.

met my friend yesterday with her 4 month old. he is sooo lovely and is starting to show his personality and had us in stitches with his facial expressions.

i want my baby now!!!! (but not the labour)

xxx

My_Fathers_Daughter

Morning all -

my big deadline is looming and I am so tired that I spent about an hour last night sobbing about how much work I have to do before 8am Monday morning. bl00dy hormones are driving me mad - what help I thought crying was going to do me I don't know!! After my little outburst hubby refused to let me do any work at all last night for fear that I might end up throwing my temperamental laptop out of the window.

So - a busy day for me before I rush off to pick DSS up at 5pm. Having a big family meal for MIL this evening - she flies off to florida for 2 months tomorrow!!

I hate november.

Hope everyone is well.

shellsuit

Can I ask you lovely ladies to look at my circumstances please on maternity pay/leave as I know I will have a struggle with my employer when it comes to the crunch? As soon as I receive my MatB1 I'll be giving that in aswell as my dates for leave, so that will be during January sometime.

I work 16 hours a week @ minimum wage, so I pick up £91.68 a week, which is paid to me weekly in cash and I've been there since the beginning of April 2007.

According to the sites I've looked at, I'm entitled to maternity pay (my wage less 10%) but is there any way that I can be told they won't pay it to me and if they say they won't, what could I do? (I know I could claim Maternity Allowance, but if I'm entitled to Mat pay, I'll fight for it)

Also, I'll be taking 39 weeks off as I don't think we'll be able to cope with me taking the full 52 weeks off.

Am I right in thinking that my holiday will still acrue while I'm off?

I wanted to stop work 8 weeks before I'm due, which will be 9th March 2009, so if I'm able to take my holidays aswell, I could leave on the 9th February, or go back 4 weeks later (so go back after 43 weeks)?

I need to know all the facts and figures so that if I'm told "You can't do this and we won't pay you that", I'll be able to stand up for myself and tell them what they have to do legally.

Thanks for any advice anybody can give me!

angelfairy

shellsuit wrote: »

Can I ask you lovely ladies to look at my circumstances please on maternity pay/leave as I know I will have a struggle with my employer when it comes to the crunch? As soon as I receive my MatB1 I'll be giving that in aswell as my dates for leave, so that will be during January sometime.

I'll try

This is a great website to enter your information into to get a personalised calcualtion of your maternity pay and leave dates

http://tiger.direct.gov.uk/cgi-bin/maternity.cgi

I work 16 hours a week @ minimum wage, so I pick up £91.68 a week, which is paid to me weekly in cash and I've been there since the beginning of April 2007.

I believe to qualify for SMP you need to earn over £90 per week which you do and you have been in the employment of the company long enough (not sure when your due date is without hunting down the list - sorry didn't see further down in your post you mention your due date)

According to the sites I've looked at, I'm entitled to maternity pay (my wage less 10%) but is there any way that I can be told they won't pay it to me and if they say they won't, what could I do? (I know I could claim Maternity Allowance, but if I'm entitled to Mat pay, I'll fight for it)

For the first six weeks of your maternity leave you will be paid at 90% of your usual pay and then it will drop to the SMP which is £118 (before tax)

I believe Maternity Allowance is paid at the same rate (and i seem to recall you can start claiming this earlier than SMP)

Also, I'll be taking 39 weeks off as I don't think we'll be able to cope with me taking the full 52 weeks off.

Am I right in thinking that my holiday will still acrue while I'm off?

Holidays do continue to accrue whilst you are on maternity leave.

I wanted to stop work 8 weeks before I'm due, which will be 9th March 2009, so if I'm able to take my holidays aswell, I could leave on the 9th February, or go back 4 weeks later (so go back after 43 weeks)?

Nothing to stop you starting your maternity leave 8 weeks before you are due. You are able to take your holiday first as well, so say you have four weeks holiday... take your four weeks (full pay); then six weeks at 90% and then start your SMP for the next 39 weeks.

I need to know all the facts and figures so that if I'm told "You can't do this and we won't pay you that", I'll be able to stand up for myself and tell them what they have to do legally.

Thanks for any advice anybody can give me!

I believe what i have put to be correct, but if you follow the link i gave you it might help also. The only difference may be that when you procedure through the personalisation of the calculation and you put your wanting to start maternity leave date four weeks later (taking into account that your first four weeks will be your holiday entitlement).

shellsuit

angelfairy wrote: »

I believe what i have put to be correct, but if you follow the link i gave you it might help also. The only difference may be that when you procedure through the personalisation of the calculation and you put your wanting to start maternity leave date four weeks later (taking into account that your first four weeks will be your holiday entitlement).

Thanks Angel, I'm due 9th May 09.

I'll only receive 90% of my wages through all my maternity leave, even the first 6 weeks, as I earn under the £117.

I'll have a look at the link you've posted xx

shellsuit

Arghhh, right, this is where I get stuck lol.

On the link, i've started filling it in, but this question :

Did you earn on average more than £90 per week?

It only went to over £90 a week from October, when the minimum wage went up, so I don't know if my answer would be Yes or No??


EDIT : I've put Yes and this is what it says :

Statutory maternity pay

You are probably entitled to the following Statutory Maternity Pay:

• 90 per cent of your average weekly earnings for the first 6 full weeks of your Ordinary Maternity leave. Based on the information you provided, this will be £82.51 a week for 6 weeks.
• £117.18 a week, or 90 per cent of your average weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for a further 33 weeks. Based on the information you provided, this will be £82.51 a week for 33 weeks.

Probably?? Why probably lol?! Surely it should be Yes or No?

angelfairy

shellsuit wrote: »

Arghhh, right, this is where I get stuck lol.

On the link, i've started filling it in, but this question :

Did you earn on average more than £90 per week?

It only went to over £90 a week from October, when the minimum wage went up, so I don't know if my answer would be Yes or No??


EDIT : I've put Yes and this is what it says :

Statutory maternity pay

You are probably entitled to the following Statutory Maternity Pay:

• 90 per cent of your average weekly earnings for the first 6 full weeks of your Ordinary Maternity leave. Based on the information you provided, this will be £82.51 a week for 6 weeks.
• £117.18 a week, or 90 per cent of your average weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for a further 33 weeks. Based on the information you provided, this will be £82.51 a week for 33 weeks.

Probably?? Why probably lol?! Surely it should be Yes or No?

I think they say probably just to cover themselves.

shellsuit

angelfairy wrote: »

I think they say probably just to cover themselves.

Thanks hun

I've filled in all the dates but now found out I want to start my leave 4 weeks earlier than intended (otherwise I'd be back at work in December and I can't imagine the stress of Christmas, baby AND work lol!). Taking my holidays (so 4 weeks) before my maternity leave will mean I'll still leave on the day I wanted....if that makes sense lol

If I leave 4 weeks later, then I'd be due to go back to work the first week in January which suits me to the ground!

Now I just have to wait for my MatB1 cert, to hand it in with this template letter and dates and watch the !!!!!! fly at work :rotfl: :rotfl:

cazscoob

hello ladies hope you are all well:D

well today my 1st little girl is 8 OMG how time flies:j , my house looks like a bomb has went off due to me not being able to tidy up with hurting my back but hey kids are off school today so might get a little help:O i have all the family turning up later and have just got in a panic as i have nothing in and no car due to OH gearbox going and him having to use mine? so its gonna be a cup of tea and thats it lol! we bought her the wii family trainer and im so desperate for a shot but dont want to hurt myself more:eek:

Baby has been kicking non stop and she must be growing well as she loves kicking my ribs now that she can reach! kids think its great when they feel her kick but after a while the novelty is starting to wear off for me:rolleyes:

My_Fathers_Daughter

Just a note about holidays - sometimes an employer will not allow you to take them before you accrue them...which means that you may not be able to take them at the start of your maternity leave (because they don't actually 'owe' you them at that point IYSWIM).


Does that make sense? Got a feeling it doesn't.