Supply teachers and maternity pay question

[poppy]

Does anyone know if supply teachers in Scotland are entitled to statutory maternity pay?

I have taught full time for eight years, have been on maternity leave for about ten months and have recently had to give up my job in Aberdeen because I have moved down to Edinburgh area. I have tried to find a part-time teaching job but there is nothing at the moment, so I am going to go on the dreaded supply list.

I am not ttc at the moment, but am considering it in the next year or so. I was just wondering, if I am still on the supply list (doing two days a week) would I be entitled to SMP?

 

[Elhaym]

Hello,

I think you should be entitled to SMP as long as you have been working for at least 26 weeks up to the 'qualifying date' (15th week before your due date). Part weeks are OK, so doing 2 days a week should be fine if it is every week.

if for some reason you are not entitled to SMP you should be allowed to apply for maternity allowance, which is the same as SMP (around £120 this year).

Some info on eligibility - https://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyT...pport/Expectingorbringingupchildren/DG_175884

I would definitely check with the agency when you are TTC/pregnant to make sure though.

Hope this helps

 

[poppy]

Thankyou - that is a really useful site. I feel a bit better now!

I just hope I manage to get work every week, although there is no guarantees

 

[kate.m.]

I looked into this too- nobody seemed to know what they were on about, i got passed from pillar to post, & just kept getting told "It depends how much ur earning when ur pregnant"!!! Thats no use!! Why cant they tell me before hand? Why did they want me to wait untill i was pregnant before they told me if id b entitled to anything?? Surely they could give me examples: "U need to earn £x by x weeks"? After about 5 of these phone calls, this is what i found out:

U need to be earning an average of £150 ( i think. it was deff somewhere around this figure, sorry i cant remember exactly) per week, for the 2 months before the qualifying date. The qualifying date is the 15th week before estimated date of delivery. So i worked that out to be: earn £150 per week (average) in weeks 17 to 25 of pregnancy. So that means ur probably screwed if ur 17-25 weeks pregnant over the summer holls- thats 6 weeks of earning nothing, which would seriously damage ur average wage and reduce ur chances of qualifying.

hope this has helped?!
x

 

[poppy]

Thanks, that is really useful as well. I did a bit of research into it today as well and it did say that if you don't get the amount required, they have to look into why you didn't achieve it - for example, did they not have enough work to offer you or did they offer you days and you knocked them back. I think that would mean that over the summer you would still qualify, as you can't be offered days in the summer. Also, supply teachers only get a portion of their earnings at the end of each month - some is now kept back to pay you over the holidays. In the past, they used to give you a higher daily rate than a contract teacher, but didn't pay you over your hols - so this might mean that you would still earn over the 150 a week base for getting SMP.

xxx

 

[kate.m.]

wow, thats good that they pay you a holiday rate! Mine didnt do that But to be honest, they were reeeeaaallly rubbish anyway!