Working for second employer whilst on maternity leave

Helen36

Dear all,

I'm due to go on maternity leave shortly, but am wondering whether it is possible to do the (very ocassional) bit of work for a second employer whilst being on maternity leave from the first.

I work four days a week in education, for which I'll be receiving full pay for 4 and a half months and then going onto SMP. But I also did one day of providing training for a private company on my 'day off' when I was about 23 weeks pregnant (this was with the full knowledge of my main employer, who was quite happy with it. I haven't yet received payment for this though, my own fault for not getting a claim in as too up to my ears with paperwork for my main job!). I'm also going to do another day for the second employer when I'm about 36 weeks pregnant, I just complete an invoice and send it through to them and they tax me on my pay.

It looks like there will be further opportunities to provide training for this private company in September / October, and I've been hoping that this might be an alternative career option as the pay is far better than for my first job and it will fit in better with my childcare needs. I don't want to let this new opportunity slip through my fingers by being unavailable, but also don't want to jeopardise my SMP as I'm not sure whether it will work out. Can I do the odd day for this second employer? If not, can I do up to 10 days for them as KIT days? I hope this doesn't sound greedy, it's just that money is going to be tight as my husband is on a low wage, and this new employment opportunity could potentially be the perfect solution in the long term to trying to get a balance between our financial need for me to work but not wanting to pay out all of my wages in childcare.

Thanks in advance for any advice,

H

heretolearn_2

No, not really. well, yours is a bit of a funny case, so you might need to check up with HMRC?

You can't take on an additional job while on SMP, if you do your SMP stops when the new job starts.

However if you already had 2 (or more) employers when you were pregnant, then you can continue working for the one you don't get SMP from. your case is a bit hard as you only did one day for them, and it's only going to be a casual thing rather than regular work.

the only conflict is the SMP though - you can work during unpaid mat. leave.

cakey

Hi, I work 2 jobs and got SMP from both as I worked enough hours with both to qualify. I'm not sure about whether you have to work for both whilst pregnant.

I was told my SMP would only stop if I started work for the employer paying me SMP. I could work anywhere so long as they weren't paying me smp and this wouldn't affect my SMP from the first employer.

tizerbelle

@cakey, you were misadvised. If an employee starts working for another employer during the maternity pay period after the baby is born and they did not work for that employer during the qualifying week then any pre-existing employer should stop paying SMP. Although it is upto the employee to inform the pre-existing employer they have worked for someone else and that applies to all the employers paying you SMP.

@Helen36, it sounds like you are not an employee of the training company but acting as a service provider to them i.e. self-employed as you say you invoice them for your time. The SMP rules refer only to employees not the self-employed and so as heretolearn says you will need to speak to HMRC to clarify whether undertaking work on a self-employed basis with a company not paying you SMP during the maternity pay period would mean that 1) you have to notify your current employer and 2) they would then stop paying SMP.

Oh - just noticed that you said that they tax you on the invoice payment - that seems a rather bizarre set-up but could mean you are classed as an employee of the training company for the purposes of SMP and could mean they should be paying you SMP as well - as long as you meet the qualifying criteria.

Get all your paperwork together - dates worked/working, qualifying week etc and give HMRC a call - yours is an odd one - could be fun getting to grips with it.

cakey

Really? It was hmrc that advised me, it was then backed up by the accountants. Does this mean I will be in some sort of trouble because I am still getting SMP from one employer, yet back at work with the other

chrisbur

cakey wrote: »

Really? It was hmrc that advised me, it was then backed up by the accountants. Does this mean I will be in some sort of trouble because I am still getting SMP from one employer, yet back at work with the other

"If you start work with a new employer after your baby is born (if you work for an employer who did not employ you in the 15th week before the week your baby was due) your SMP must stop. You must tell the employer paying you SMP"
This is from the direct.gov website http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Expectingorbringingupchildren/DG_10018741

As I understand it you were getting SMP from two employers, and are now back working with one and still on SMP with another.
To have qualified for SMP from the one you are back working with you must have been employed during the 15 th week before the baby was expected so that would be OK it is only if you work for a new employer, that is one you were not working for during the 15 th week then SMP should stop being paid completely.