Pregnant - what happens now?

cheltenhamgirl

chunky79 wrote: »

Any commision that you have earnt should be paid though as you have earnt it.

Thats how I see it, but I do know that if you leave the company - either throught their decision or yours, from the date of your last pay check you get no more commission....so I wonder if same applies to this. I do think it's really off if that's the case, but if it's in the contract I guess I don't have a choice.

Really not sure whether I'd be coming back to work or not....I will defnitely have to work, but my job is 5 days a week (including saturdays) from 8.30-6.30 minimum and it's over an hours commute from where I live, so I really can't see it being practical to come back to work full time. So it eould be part time, and it depends on whether it works out financially better for me to come back here part time, or find another part time job closer to home. I really don't want to if I can at all help it go back to work full time.....

RAS

Hiya

You really do need copies of your contract and your company's mat leave policy. There is a legal requirement., about which you have been advised, but some companies offer a higher rate of pay for anything upto 9 months.

Also if you do not return to work, you have to repay the mat leave. Again you need to see the exact situation in your company.

The other factor is that legally your holiday coninues to accrue during your mat leave, so you can return to work and then take that off fully paid at the end of the leave period. One of my colleagues came back with 5 weeks leave to take in the following 12 weeks which was a nightmare. She could have added several weeks to the end of the materity leave period which would have been more use to her.

lucysmumwork

I would echo some of the comments above but some are inaccute I am afraid. I am currently pregnant too. By law, you get 90% of your pay for the first six weeks then the remaining 33 weeks at the standard rate (£112.75 this year) BUT you are entitled to take a full year off but the remaining weeks you wil get nothing.

HOWEVER, check your works policy as my employer pays me half pay on top of my maternity pay but thats just their policy, this is not law.

AND note you would be entitled to all benefits and perks while you are off ie: I get my car user allowance of £60 per month even though I am not going on visits, thoug I cannot claim mileage as I am not doing any. You also kep things like movile phones if they are provided. So I would think that they will average your commission but really you need to double check your contract. You are entitled to all your bank holidays. When I returned I had loads of holidays that had accrued and my boss suggested that for the first 6 weeks I only came back 2 days and it really eased me in.

Tax credits is a minefield and the best thing to do is phone them (try during the day on a weekday for the quieter times) and tell them and they will work it out. Entitledto.co.uk is good but you arent entitled to any money until you give birth so it can be confusing to work out what you will get. Also you will get more money if your child goes into childcare when you return, and bear in mind that tax credits work on your last years pay. So I had my daughter in September and we got about £20 a week but when I went back to work in Feb and she was in nursery we got about £90 then come the April when I filled my assessment pack in (you get one every April) and IR took into account the fact I hadnt worked for six months the year before we got even more. Goes down again when they reach one though!

Hope this helps.

Floxxie

Congratulations on your pregnancy.

As well as getting hold of the maternity rules in your contract (which may offer over and above the statutory maternity pay), I would also look at https://www.directgov.co.uk

SMP (assuming that you have worked for your employer long enough) is 90% of your salary for the first 6 weeks - it is worked out on an average of particular weeks so if you have sales commission etc., then it can be quite a nice pay packet!

For the next 33 weeks, from April 2008, maternity pay is £117.18. You can then take the remainder of the year off unpaid (13 weeks).

I worked in estate agency when I last went on maternity leave and commission from any previous agreed sales was paid. I was excluded from any other office bonuses though.So you need to check your position.

Child benefit has already been mentioned.

Child tax credit for 2006-7 - if your joint income was between £25561 and £75000 -I think it was about £845 (you are paid the 'higher rate' for a baby under a year) but no additional help re nursery fees etc. After that it was £545 p.a.. I say was as these figures may have been amended.

You can now also take 10 paid 'back to work' days before the end of your maternity leave and not lose any maternity pay.

I found the finances easier to manage on maternity leave. It was going back to work and paying the nursery bills that proved difficult.

Hope that helps.

elle_gee

I'm a HR Administrator. Just wanted to clarify that the statutory mat pay is £112.50 (this financial year - will rise after Apr which is prob when it will affect you) - anything about half pay is purely a particular employers policy, over and above your legal rights. If your employer doesn't give you anything extra, you will get 90% of your average wage for six weeks from the date you go on mat leave then the rest of your paid mat leave period (nine months in total) at the SMP rate (currently £112.50) per week. You can then have a further three months off unpaid, during which time your employer has to keep your job open for you unless you tell them you don't want it.

A good website to look at is (as recommended by someone else too) www.direct.gov.uk.