# Maternity pay on fixed term 12 month contract



## Summer_millie

Hi everyone,

I really need some help and advice from you all! My maternity leave is one of the main reasons by OH has said we need to wait to try until September as he thinks it will be better if I have started my job before we try for a baby.

I've been studying for 8 years at uni and finally start my first qualified job in a local council on 1st September. It's a 12 month fixed term contract. I've done quite a bit of reading online but am still getting confused about whether or not I'd be entitled to maternity allowance or not. I don't think I'd get statutory maternity pay as I won't have been there for a year.

Has anyone been in this position before? I'm so desperate to start trying for a baby I really don't want to wait until September! I know I could contact the local council and speak to them but I don't want them to know that I'm planning on getting pregnant before I've even started the job!!!

Any advice would be really appreciated,

Thanks ladies' :flower:


----------



## lottie-xx

I got preg with my DD the second month into my new job and qualified for stay maternity pay as you have to have been in the job 26 weeks by I think 6 weeks before your due date x


----------



## Pearls18

You will get SMP if either your period starts a week after you start work and that was the cycle you fall pregnant, or if you start a week before conception I can't remember which date they use. THEN you have to be working there up till and during the 25th or 26th week of your pregnancy. Basically if I were you if you started September 1st, I would TTC from October 1st just to give yourself some leeway.

I started a 12 month fixed term contract August 2009, fell pregnant December 2009, completed the traineeship, left when I was 32 weeks pregnant so managed to start my SMP from that date (SMP can start from 29 weeks)

You don't need to have worked there a year for SMP that's only for enhanced schemes. I recommend waiting for SMP can you get 6 weeks of 90% wages. Hope what I said makes sense, any questions fire away I did a lot of studying on it lol.

https://www.direct.gov.uk/en/moneyt...ort/expectingorbringingupchildren/dg_10018741


----------



## Summer_millie

Thank u so much that's really helpful advice, I can't believe how confusing It all is! September 1st is our wedding anniversary so I think we're going to start then and just see what happens. I doubt we'll get pregnant on our first to (even though my OH thinks he has 'super sperm'!!!) so hopefully I should have been there a month or two before I get the BFP. :happydance:

I was wondering if you know what happens if I'm on maternity leave when my fixed contract ends? Do they have to extend the contract? I'm just worried that I might not have a job to go back to if I go on maternity leave :cry:


----------



## Pearls18

Summer_millie said:


> Thank u so much that's really helpful advice, I can't believe how confusing It all is! September 1st is our wedding anniversary so I think we're going to start then and just see what happens. I doubt we'll get pregnant on our first to (even though my OH thinks he has 'super sperm'!!!) so hopefully I should have been there a month or two before I get the BFP. :happydance:
> 
> I was wondering if you know what happens if I'm on maternity leave when my fixed contract ends? Do they have to extend the contract? I'm just worried that I might not have a job to go back to if I go on maternity leave :cry:

You won't have a job to go back to hun that's the thing with fixed term contracts especially getting pregnant on them because I doubt they will want to extend someone who has had a baby. Am I right in thinking it's a 12 month contract? In which case you will have to work until at least 29 weeks of pregnancy by which time you will have probably completed your contract and then SMP will start when you have left, you are classed as being employed by them right up until the last payment of SMP even though this will be months after your contract ended (this is good for tax credits) the risk of falling pregnant on a fixed term contract always will be the fact you won't have a job to go back to unless you massively impress them. Because it is fixed term they have no obligation to give you a job at the end of it maternity rights or not, ;m not sure if they have to if you go on mat leave part way through the contract.


----------



## Girly123

I know this is an old topic. But maybe someone can help.

I am currently on a fixed term contract. It ends 31st August 2013.

With my job (teacher) as long as I have worked the 26 week rule with the same employer (well I started sept 2012 so I will have done if fell pregnant now) and also worked for a year continuously for a local authority (can change authority and I have but will have worked the year on 1st jan 2013) then I can qualify for full maternity package.

So that is fine and if I meet 26 week rule I would get SMP part as well and if I didn't meet 26 week part with same employer I would qualify for MA instead.

So my real dilemma is:- if I fell pregnant now the baby would be due August so can I assume I therefore would just go on maternity in August and I would be paid the full maternity package (so like full salary for 4 weeks) despite the fact my contract had ended?

If I fell pregnant in say 3 months, so feb, baby would be due in nov 2013. Well I would have been unemployed since August but would qualify for the maternity pay (as far as I can work out). Is this correct?

My last dilemma, if I decide to wait until April/May next year then that is when I find out if my contract is being extended for another year. It would be another fixed term if it is. If I got a second year at this job and fell pregnant does it matter that it is a seperate contract as I will still be with the same employer?

I hope that makes sense. I just don't know when is best to start TTC due to these temp contracts x


----------



## ArcaneSpark

I don't know the answer to this but could be worth posting in the work and finance section, as there are lots of people very clued up on the ins and outs of pay!


----------

