Maternity pay

Where are you? Canada? I was told it won't, I'm off early as well

@Kristen in England

It will depend on your sick and maternity policies at work. It might, it might not.

If the time you have off is during the qualifying weeks then yes. If you use the gov calculator for maternity pay it will automatically calculate the qualifying weeks if you don't know them.

It can trigger your maternity to start early aswell. I had PGP and had to struggle through to ensure I had time off with my daughter x

I think it depends on your company policy. I’m in England too and my company policy says if you’re off for X amount of days (10 for example) for a pregnancy related illness they’ll start maternity leave early and after the 10 sick days, so defo worth checking what your policy says/speaking to HR xxx

The qualifying period for smp is week 16-24 so if you’re off sick during that time then yes it could affect the pay. If you’re off sick in the 4 weeks leading up to your due date ( and only then) then your work could enforce early maternity but that wouldn’t affect your maternity pay.

It depends when you're sick as basic maternity pay is calculated using 'qualifying weeks'.

When is your due date? If its longer than 11 weeks away then its sick pay until its 11 weeks away which is when they can trigger maternity leave. It depends if you're only getting statutory sick pay while off and only getting statutory maternity pay. If you're only getting statutory sick pay while off and you're in the qualifying weeks then yes it will affect your statutory maternity as your statutory maternity is based on your average take home pay during the relevant period. So if only earning statutory sick and its less than your usual wage, it will affect the average for your statutory maternity. You may find it better financially to put in a request in work for change in hours. Workplaces are supposed to make allowances in line with risk assessments and reduced capability of the personnel as pregnancy is a protected characteristic. Also your job is protected for first 6 months of maternity, after that they can change it but not worsen it. Best to read up on gov website while you're at home.

my due date is 27 September which as of next Friday will be 11 weeks away so if I went sick they could trigger maternity instead. I don't want to as I have saved my holiday to basically mean I take most of September as full pay, and trigger maternity later so I get to spend as much time with baby as possible up to their first birthdaybefore needing to use the following year's annual leave. You may also want to check your holiday year and how much holiday you have and use some of that to reduce your work hours/days.

@Hannah your maternity leave can only be started early if you’re off sick with a pregnancy related illness in the 4 week period before your due date, not 11 weeks.

@N 💞 good point. I meant you can start maternity up to 11 weeks before your due date which might be another option for OP.

@Hannah my due date is 2nd November, I get statutory sick pay, and I spoke to HR about maternity pay and I am not entitled to any maternity pay as I don't earn enough weekly to qualify. I am 23 weeks pregnant and I have had no support at all from work, yhere have been no risk assessment done so they arnt even swear or the pain and suffering I am going through daily, my manager dosnt even talk to me hasn't done since I went back to work in January after having a miscarriage. I have all.my holiday still to take in work an need to use b4 i go on maternity

You should be eligible for Maternity allowance if you’re not eligible for smp, it’s direct from the gov and you need to apply for it yourself, have a look into it