Reply to: Unintended consequence of maternity leave

[SueEllen]

"In any event, the introduction of shared parental leave from April will mean men as well as women taking leave to look after their new baby. This will help to stamp out outdated stereotypes about who should do what, and let parents get on with making their own decisions about how they manage work and family life."

That will help a bit. But with women still seen as the primary carer they are always going to suffer in their career.

There are women around who earn the same as, or more than their male partners.

I've actually worked alongside permies and a couple of contractors who as guys were the primary carer i.e. they had to sort the childcare out, they had to run home if their kid was sick.

[SueEllen]

That's interesting.
I thought the worker was paid out of the invoices they brought in.
Where does the SMP money come from if the umbrellee doesn't invoice enough?

Government.

[MicrosoftBob]

Are there no chimneys to be swept?

No, but there are radiators to bleed

[evilagent]

Not much chance no

Maternity pay rules still apply to contractors if they work through a brolly

That's interesting.
I thought the worker was paid out of the invoices they brought in.
Where does the SMP money come from if the umbrellee doesn't invoice enough?

[xoggoth]

Bring back child labour and set them to work as soon as they emerge from the womb.

[original PM]

you are an employee of a brolly thus you are entitled to employee benefits

iirc though it was the statutory minimum that was being paid mind you.

[mudskipper]

Not much chance no

Maternity pay rules still apply to contractors if they work through a brolly

Eh? How does that work then?

[LazyFan]

Contractors who do not support Permi rights and the increase of permi rights are of course bad Business people. The more the perms have the more contractors look cost affective.

This country has more contractors per capita head than most countries, there is no excuse for Business owners anymore. If perms are too risky, hire contractors, there are plenty of us.

Employeers as they often tell the workers (be they perm or contractor), should "stop whining and get back to work".

Bosses should stop crying or someone else will take your job if you do not want to do it properly!

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

Boomed! Better use contractors to be on the safe side

Edit: Also, I'm male so not much chance of getting pregnant anyway, assuming I've understood this birds and bees stuff

Not much chance no

Maternity pay rules still apply to contractors if they work through a brolly

[Bunk]

I don't think you can actually employ anyone these days without risk of falling foul of some legislation or another

Boomed! Better use contractors to be on the safe side

Edit: Also, I'm male so not much chance of getting pregnant anyway, assuming I've understood this birds and bees stuff

[LisaContractorUmbrella]

I don't think you can actually employ anyone these days without risk of falling foul of some legislation or another

[vetran]

So the main change is that the low rate is for 33 weeks rather than 12.

Also, seems you're allowed longer off - used to be up to 29 weeks after the baby was born.

key thing is keeping the job of similar stature open for a year. The employer has to hire a temp to cover and then slot you back in at a reduced work rate.

So if you interview while pregnant, get the job you can spend 3 - 6 months in your new role and then they have to keep it open for you on pain of tribunal. This is on top of any enhanced maternity pay.

a year of service would cut that out.

[cailin maith]

Anyone know what the rules are?


When I went on ML many years ago, you had to be there two years to get maternity benefits, and they were pretty stingy - something like 6 weeks at 90% pay, then 12 weeks at 'dole money' rates. Any additional time off was unpaid. Being local council, I got 12 weeks at half pay instead of the minimum, but had to be repaid if I didn't return to my job for 6 months.

It varies from business to business but where I am, I was really lucky to get 4 months full pay (enhanced Mat Benefit) paid by my employer, followed by the 6 weeks at 90% then the basic SMP for the remainder of the 12 month entitlement. I took 10 months off.

One of my colleagues was preggers at the same time as me but worked for a different arm and she just got the basic 6 weeks at 90% followed by SMP and she'd been working for them the same length of time as me, we were just on different T&C's. The variation even within the same group is massive let alone from business to business.

The SMP is paid over by the employer but deducted from the monthly tax bill so the employer doesn't actually pay it over, just acts as a conduit as it were.

[mudskipper]

https://www.gov.uk/employee-rights-when-on-leave

https://www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/overview

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is paid for up to 39 weeks. You get:

90% of your average weekly earnings (before tax) for the first 6 weeks
£138.18 or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for the next 33 weeks

So the main change is that the low rate is for 33 weeks rather than 12.

Also, seems you're allowed longer off - used to be up to 29 weeks after the baby was born.

[vetran]

https://www.gov.uk/employee-rights-when-on-leave

https://www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/overview