December Snowflakes 2015! Come join me 74 ladies, 10 angels, two sets of twins!

[Pearlie]

Thanks everyone, I had hoped the next time I have a baby id be able to share it with my partner. I guess not! My eldest will be amazing I'm sure.

 

[Brittahnee]

thanks for the kind thoughts, ladies.


the spotting did stop, and the cramps aren't nearly as bad. I have an ultrasound Thursday but I'm going to just blame my uterus stretching or something.

 

[TeddysGirl]

UK ladies I wondered if you can help me. I'm new to this so I'm wondering how maternity leave and pay works.
Do all/any employers offer full maternity pay for a certain amount of time ? Or does it go straight to SMP ?
If they do offer full pay would it say in my contact as it doesn't in mine ! I work for Norfolk County Council in a school.
Thanks for any advice, we're just trying to sort out finances and how much I will be entitled to =)

 

[jessilou]

thanks for the kind thoughts, ladies.


the spotting did stop, and the cramps aren't nearly as bad. I have an ultrasound Thursday but I'm going to just blame my uterus stretching or something.

glad its stopped

 

[Willow82]

UK ladies I wondered if you can help me. I'm new to this so I'm wondering how maternity leave and pay works.
Do all/any employers offer full maternity pay for a certain amount of time ? Or does it go straight to SMP ?
If they do offer full pay would it say in my contact as it doesn't in mine ! I work for Norfolk County Council in a school.
Thanks for any advice, we're just trying to sort out finances and how much I will be entitled to =)

It depends on your employer's maternity policy. I work for the local authority and the maternity policy isn't in my contract but I can access it via our intranet. Councils tend to be pretty good. Mine offers full pay for the first 3 months, half pay for the next 3 and then statutory for the following 3. I can have up to a year off if I want to.

 

[IsaacRalph]

Agree will willow there should be a separate maternity policy teddy! I work for the nhs so we have quite good maternity benefits. Actually I am returning to work next Monday, I can't believe I'm pregancy again already. X find it out when you next go in

 

[IsaacRalph]

Glad all is ok britt xx

 

[Pearlie]

Yeah I found mine on my extranet too, I get three different stages of pay and a year off aswell though 13 weeks would be unpaid at the end if I take a year. Also mine godson the last few months pay rather than my salary so I need to get lots of overtime in for the next 6 months. Councils will have decent packages im sure!

 

[IsaacRalph]

Grrr so I stupidly did a clearblue digital this morning with smu after a cup of tea and glass of water and it only said 2-3 weeks and I'm 5weeks 4 days today! This has made worry non stop! All I was trying to get was some reassurance things are going well. My last blood test my hcg was 5166 on Wednesday now I'm thinking it's going down or something????? I hate this!

 

[TeddysGirl]

I've looked online and it doesn't say anything about full pay. It only says 6 weeks at 90% then 33 weeks at the £130 or whatever it is. Seeing as I work for a council (Norfolk County Council) I would have thought they would have offered at least 2 weeks full pay. Why should I ask ? I don't really want my boss knowing just yet because I am so early on !

IsaacRalph - try not to worry, the CB digis aren't exact ! There are loads of things that can interfere with HCG in your urine.

 

[jessilou]

Grrr so I stupidly did a clearblue digital this morning with smu after a cup of tea and glass of water and it only said 2-3 weeks and I'm 5weeks 4 days today! This has made worry non stop! All I was trying to get was some reassurance things are going well. My last blood test my hcg was 5166 on Wednesday now I'm thinking it's going down or something????? I hate this!

I did a clear blue and got 3+ but I am 6 weeks 3 days.
Mine was a FMU though. Because the clear blue goes on your HCG concentrations it means that it was probably diluted because you were nice and hydrated Though I have heard they aren't always very accurate anyway.

 

[IsaacRalph]

Thanks for your reassurances girls I was just hoping it would show 3+ today! But reading the instructions it does say use fmu. It happened last time I was pregancy too, you' d think I'd learn. I will try with fmu in the morning and see what happens and if I get a 3+ no more tests! I have been so anxious about this pregancy the worst I have ever been.i think it's because we lost Edwards twin last year and I'm still not over that. X

 

[Willow82]

I've looked online and it doesn't say anything about full pay. It only says 6 weeks at 90% then 33 weeks at the £130 or whatever it is. Seeing as I work for a council (Norfolk County Council) I would have thought they would have offered at least 2 weeks full pay. Why should I ask ? I don't really want my boss knowing just yet because I am so early on !

IsaacRalph - try not to worry, the CB digis aren't exact ! There are loads of things that can interfere with HCG in your urine.

Could you email HR?

 

[TeddysGirl]

Would it be the school HR or Norfolk County Council HR ?

 

[IsaacRalph]

I would say who pays your salary teddy! Ask payroll they will know where you need to look for your policy. I suppose you don't want to set a cat amongst the pigeons just yet but you should be able to enquire keeping anonymous xx

 

[ElmaWG]

It's amazing just how much better maternity leave is in the UK ( and just about everywhere else in the world) compared to the U.S. Three months of paid leave, plus additional leave beyond that. I would be overjoyed with that.

I work for a huge employer (30k employees). I've been here for 2 years. I get 12 weeks unpaid. If I had been there less then a year then they could legally terminate my employment.

 

[laurac1988]

Im lucky that I work for the nhs so we have an excellent maternity policy. I'm thankful for that

 

[IsaacRalph]

That sucks elma! I can't believe they could terminate your employment..I work for the nhs so I get 3 months full pay then 3 months statutory pau and half pay, then remainding 3 months just statutory pay but can have up to a year so remainding would be unpaid. I'm just using up some annual leave before I return on the 4th from my mat leave. I have had just short of a year off already and it's gone so fast!

 

[Chimpette]

I get stat pay on my maternity but ive never had better than that on any of my jobs

 

[2ndtimeAbz]

Me neither could only afford to take 12 weeks off with Nathan and that was with using up all my holiday pay too. This time the holiday year starts at the end of Jan do I've already booked and used mine (for childcare not actually a holiday lol). Gonna have to change jobs as I'm a retail manager and nurseries don't open on weekends! I love my job so a bit gutted but want another little one more!