Hi Eleanor,

We are currently looking into this at the moment as well. At the moment we offer 12 weeks full pay, after that the remaining 27 weeks are SMP.

However, we are looking to offer enhanced maternity package. So we are thinking to offer SMP to employees who have been with us for less than a year and enhanced maternity package for employees who have been with us for over a year. Enhanced package would be 12 weeks full pay and 12 weeks half pay to start off with but we would like to improve this even more in the future.

Many women do tend to leave the company if the maternity package is not good enough so this is on our priority list.

I hope this helps!

In reply to Zerina:

Hi Eleanor and Zerina,

I'm also looking at enhancing our maternity package at the moment, as we also only offer the statutory minimum. I wondered if either of you had gone ahead with enhancing since March, and although still early days, how that had been received by your employees so far?

Thanks

Hi, I work for a non-departmental public body and we pay 18 weeks of full pay and the remaining 21 weeks at SMP rate. We ask employees to return to work for a minimum of 1 month to avoid repaying the difference between statutory and enhanced pay if they do not intend to return but in practice would suggest a compromise like using annual leave to cover this rather than have to find something for them to do for a month when they have been off for a year. We also offer the same for shared parental leave, but this is less any weeks already taken by either parent.

Hi, I work for a private company. After 9 years of service I was told that I would be entitled to statutory minimum only. I feel this is disappointing, humiliating and unfair. Women should have the right to feel financially safe and secure in the first months of having a baby and not punished for wanting a family. A few friends of mine had to start their leave a few weeks before the baby was born as they were feeling unwell. If this happens to me does this mean I have to go back to work a month after giving birth? You cannot seriously think that you can reduce someone's salary to £595/month and expect them to be ok? Why do we have to rely on our partners income? What if the woman is a higher earner like in my case? It is more common now that women are higher earners than their partners. But it is still women that have to go through child birth and it is them who should be allowed to be with the child and to enjoy motherhood, at least for the first 6 months - comfortably. These maternity laws are outdated, degrading and unjust.

In reply to Oktawia:

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