Maternity Pay

Lirin

This may be a bit silly of a request, but do my employers need to acknowledge they've received my official maternity letter?

I emailed (most in our company is via email) just over a month ago and mentioned it again a week ago.... They haven't replied to anything.

I'm maybe just twitchy as I'm the first pregnant female they've had, and I'm worried issues may come up with SMP.

F_T_Buyer

I would print and keep that email. Maybe worth putting it in writing starting with "Further to my email sent on xxx"

chrisbur

Assuming that you are entitled to SMP they should give you a letter advising the details as shown below, this comes from the employers' guide.

"Acknowledging your employee’s notice for SMP and leave
You must write to the employee within 28 days of the date she told you when she wants to take her maternity leave, to confirm the date:
• she intends to stop work
• you expect her to return to work."

Lirin

Yeah, was thinking along those lines..... Just even for me would like peace of mind!

Edit: Ta, Chrisbur.... Looks like I may start chasing it up with them.

smileylondongal

Would it come from HR or payroll perhaps? If you have an employee handbook, does it talk about mat pay and what the process is? if not then ask HR about when to expect confirmation - I'd email first as suggested above and if you don't hear by, say, Wednesday call them.

kayleighowen

you need to be careful hun any time they dont anwser your request keep pestering them and keep a copy of any emails or letters my employers where the same with me and they tried to make out they didnt understand they had to do risk assesments and didnt have to state they werent going to pay me. if they dont pay you call the dispute team at the maternity office and they will sort your case for you because i have had to do that twice with my employers message me if you get to that point and i shall give you their number it takes about 3 months to sort so best to know asap.

embob74

Just to reiterate what Kayleigh has said -
Cover yourself in how you let your employer know as shoddy treatment by employers to pregnant women is far too common.
I had a leaflet from BERR in my Bounty pack which had a tear off slip for the employer detailing their responsibilities.
Some small companies don't have a clue what they should do (mine didn't!) so you might want to print off the following to give to your workplace:
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file34286.pdf

Lirin

Embob and Kayleigh, thanks! The leaflet's handy to pass on. I think they're unaware of what they need to do just, but obviously want everything sorted out in case it affects mat pay..... Many thanks for the link!