Maternity Pay when on maternity pay!

cord123

Hello all!(This is on behalf of my friend)
She is currently on maternity leave and was going to take 9 months off... she has found out she is pregnant again (she was hoping for a close age gap but not 10 months!)
So if she goes back to work in September she will be nearly 7 months pregnant.


What she wants to know is can she opt not to go back and start her maternity leave again or can this not be done? Will she even be entitled to maternity leave or does she have to be back at work for a set period?


I thought she could do it because (probably wrongly) I thought that when you are on maternity leave you are still considered employed so you still get all the benefits ......


If you could help she is very stressed and worried about it!


Thanks


Z

clairec79

I know someone who is in a similar situation, she is going back for a fortnight and then going back off on (paid) maternity leave - I'm not sure if the back for a fortnight is a legal thing though, she will have some annual leave though so she may be able to go back without physically being back

maybetomorrow

Hi there, it is my understanding that you have to work 12 weeks to get maternity pay again. I assume Annual Leave is included in the 12 weeks.

Best check it out with the employer(they might have a policy) or CAB

carebear13

hi - your friend will stil be entitled to maternity pay/leave and accrued holiday etc as normal, her mat pay for the second baby will probably be a bit lower for the 1st 6 weeks as it's paid a@ 90% of wage, so would be 90% of £128 but then should go back to normal mat pay rates.
so assuming she hasnt used all of her annual leave and this also includes any bh that the she may accrue too, then she could use those after her mat leave or even take a proportion of unpaid mat leave to get her past 29 weeks which is the earliest that mat leave can start.
you are still classed as being employed so still retain all your rights, the only spanner in the works will be if she gets any extra mat pay (occupational maternity) as there may be something in place that she has to return for a certain length of time or pay it back. if she has a hr dept advise her to speak to them in confidence otherwise acas are pretty good .

heartbreak_star

Check netmums or mumsnet, I think they have some advice on there. They're apparently pretty good for all things sprog-related

I find it bemusing that you can essentially be off work for nearly 2 years and still get paid, but I guess that's because I have no kids and no maternal instincts lol. Good luck to her tho!

HBS x

cord123

Thanks for all the replies.I know she feels really cheeky doing it but she said it is prob worse for the company if she goes back for a couple of weeks and then off again...
thanks again! xx

superflygal

This happened to me. I was pregnant before I returned to work following baby1. I went back for 3 months, but have a 17month age gap between my darlings. I think you only have to go back for a day to restart it all though.

SFG x

nightingalesgarden

She could try and bridge the gap with parental leave - that's often an option rather than going back to work.

heartbreak_star

Isn't parental leave in most places unpaid?

HBS x