Redundancy and SMP

CherryDrop

Hiya, hoping someone can help, CAB seem a bit stumped, lol.

I was made redundant in September whilst pregnant, my last working day was 14th September, the day after this is the day my SMP "started". I was paid my SMP in a lump sum, along with my final months pay and my redundancy pay on the last day of September. The company offered no enhanced maternity package so was paid just normal SMP.

My question is, when can I return to work? I had originally plannws to take the whole year but have had to use large chunks of the money to pay rent up front and council tax up front for my own reassurance, really. So will be needing to find a job sooner rather than later. Do I have to wait the full 39 weeks before finding new employment?

Hopefully someone can help thanks in advance.

Pricivius

SMP is paid during maternity leave when you are not working. If you start working during the 39 weeks, it is likely that you will have to pay back any SMP you were given for the weeks you work. Your ex-employer will currently be claiming back the SMP (or 92%) of it from HMRC and if you start working before 39 weeks is over, HMRC will refuse your ex-employer's claim. Your ex-employer is then entitled to seek repayment of the money from you. Whether they will bother or not is up to them, but legally, you are not entitled to SMP if you are working and it would be morally wrong to do so.

The exceptions to this are where you were working for two companies during your qualifying week. If you go back to work at one of those companies, your SMP paid by the other company will not be reclaimed.

CherryDrop

Great, thanks for replying :-)