Statutory Maternity Pay?

Question

Bit confused with all of this so hoping someone can explain! How much maternity leave do you actually get? 
My boss told me that you can take up to 52 weeks off but someone else has said that not all of this is paid time off. So my question is, how long do you actually get paid for? I don't want to leave it until one day where I don't get any money and I'm in a situation!
Thanks in advance!

Answer

Hope this helps!

Answer

Ask for your company's maternity policy, or look for it if you don't want to let on you're pregnant yet. It should outline your company's offering. Most do statutory 39 weeks and the rest of the year unpaid. It's usually 90% pay for 6 weeks and then then gov standard for the rest. If you're lucky, some employers (like the school I work in) offer an additional option where you sign something saying you'll come back for a set amount of time after your maternity leave, and you get better paid while you're off. Good luck! Its a bit of a minefield..

Answer

Everyone else is correct. Statutory minimum is 52 weeks leave, 39 weeks paid. 6 weeks at 90% 33 weeks at SMP. 
If you work for public sector it's normally more but check your company maternity policy. 
You also accrue holiday during maternity leave which you are normally asked to take before or after leave. Better to take after imo as you can extend your paid time a bit. 
You can also do kit days in your unpaid bit which can give you a bit more pay xx

Answer

39 weeks paid (at varying rates) and the remaining 13 weeks would be unpaid.

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52 total. 39 paid, the rest unpaid. 6 weeks higher rate SMP at 90%. (Maybe eight weeks actually can't quite remember) and rest at lower rate SMP which is £141 a month.

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Does anyone know how this gets paid into your account? E.g the same way as your pay or weekly? My HR dept aren't answering me

Answer

You are entitled to a year off work but you only get paid for the first 9 months. You still accrue annual leave though and bank holidays so you could go back to work say at 10 months and take the next few weeks off as leave to take you up to 12 months without losing out on too much money. Lots of people do this so your employer should be ok with this.

Answer

Have a look on gov website - it's really good. Then speak to hr about what you're entitled to as they are the ones that will deal with all your pay anyway not your boss. It basically works out though that you can have 52 weeks off but only get money for 33 weeks, that's why most people go back to work after 9 months. Assuming you work a normal mon-fro job and get bank hols off you are entitled to take any bank holidays at the end of your mat leave - so I'm adding 7 days on to my maternity because that's how many there were whole I've been off.
 Also see if you can get your wage averaged over the amount of time you are off otherwise you might get tons of money at the beginning and then pennies at the end - very easy to overspend and then not have enough later on. I've found it so much easier having it averaged because I know exactly how much I'm getting. 
It's really really confusing, I was lucky that 2 of my colleagues had just come back from maternity leave so they helped a lot

Answer

Every company will give different perks as part of your package... Although that could be just the statutory amount.

Do you work with any ladies that have had babies recently and can talk you through it too?

Answer

You need to look at your company policy. There is Statutory which is the basic they need to give you.  However some companies may give above the basic in terms of pay. 
If you have a HR ask for a copy of the policy.  They tend to send you the policy and let you work it out yourself rather than just telling you on plain English what you will get paid and when. If for some reason you don't qualify for SMP you may get Maternity allowance which is a benefit paid from the Government.

Statutory Maternity Pay?

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