Maternity leave (Leeds city council)?

Gavin78

My wife is expecting on the 17th November and she has been looking up maternity leave pay.

There has been some conflicting information and I thought someone might be able to help.

She works in a school for Leeds city council and we have read 2 different forms one says she can claim Mat pay for 6 months at full pay while another form we read says 9 months off which works out at 6 weeks at 90% pay and the rest is £135 per week.

Other than calling them which we haven't done yet I was wondering if someone had any idea which one might be right?

Counting_Pennies_2

I wonder if she is looking at a Leeds CC employee form and a Teachers form.

They have different terms and conditions.

Teachers conditions are nationally agreed and council employees tend to be negotiated through the local government 'green book'

I used to work in local government writing the policy documents for the teachers in our borough (going back 6 years now)

Edit
Actually I wonder if she is looking at OML (Ordinary Maternity leave) and AML (Additional Maternity Leave)

OML is for people with a limited amount of service, and for those not intending to come back to work.

AML is for people who meet a qualifying period of employment and are paid more money as a reward for employment and an incentive to return to work (the AML is repayable if they don't return to work)

It sounds like the first you mention is the OML and AML together, and the second you mention is OML on its own.

I calculate you are about 3 - 4 months into the pregnancy, so a good time to speak with HR to be sure of the benefits

hth

hawk30

What do you mean by 'forms'? Where did these come from?

6 months full pay would be contractual maternity pay, meaning she only gets it if her contract says she does (an explanation is often contained in a staff handbook).

6 weeks at 90 per cent followed by 33 weeks at £136.78 (or 90 per fet of salary, whichever is the lower) is statutory maternity leave. Eligibility depends on how long she was worked there. https://www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/eligibility

hawk30

Counting_Pennies wrote: »

I wonder if she is looking at a Leeds CC employee form and a Teachers form.

They have different terms and conditions.

Teachers conditions are nationally agreed and council employees tend to be negotiated through the local government 'green book'

I used to work in local government writing the policy documents for the teachers in our borough (going back 6 years now)

Edit
Actually I wonder if she is looking at OML (Ordinary Maternity leave) and AML (Additional Maternity Leave)

OML is for people with a limited amount of service, and for those not intending to come back to work.

AML is for people who meet a qualifying period of employment and are paid more money as a reward for employment and an incentive to return to work (the AML is repayable if they don't return to work)

hth

That's out of date. You don't require a qualifying period of service for either AML or OML anymore and you don't get any more money for AML and it's not repayable. The only difference between OML and AML are your rights when you come back to work, and even then it's a fairly small difference.

continualdiamond

Is she a teacher or support staff??

I work as a teaching assistant for Nottinghamshire county council and I get 4 weeks at 90% pay, 2 weeks at half pay and the remaining 33 weeks at statutory maternity pay.

The difference for teachers in Nottinghamshire county council is they get the 4 weeks at full pay and not 90%.

When I let my school know I was pregnant I was given a whole booklet for school staff on the breakdown of pay and entitlements etc.

Gavin78

She works as a teaching assistant has been for about 12 years.

@Hawk

That's the one she mentioned at 90% pay for 6 weeks then it drops down.

sweaty_betty

I think the only way you'll get this clarified is by asking her employer/looking at her contract. However, in my experience, teachers get a much better deal (e.g. 6 months almost full pay) than support staff (who get statutory only), so you may need to be prepared for only getting statutory.

It doesn't seem right to me that some roles have different maternity policies, but I'm assured it's legal.

embob74

continualdiamond wrote: »

I work as a teaching assistant for Nottinghamshire county council and I get 4 weeks at 90% pay, 2 weeks at half pay and the remaining 33 weeks at statutory maternity pay.
The difference for teachers in Nottinghamshire county council is they get the 4 weeks at full pay and not 90%.

That's not right surely? The STATUTORY MINIMUM is weeks at 90% of calculated pay so if you do only get 4 weeks at 90% and then it drops down to 50% of your pay they are actually paying less than the law stipulates!!