[UK] Women wrongly denied more than £1 million maternity pay in 2021

A new report has warned that pregnant women are being wrongly denied maternity pay to the tune of millions of pounds and the number has exploded since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mirror reports.

The charity Maternity Action said many expectant and new mothers are losing income that they are entitled to and this year alone the charity has reportedly recovered more than £1million for women subjected to pay discrimination.

Maternity Action said many more expectant and new parents are missing out on the support they are legally entitled to.

Campaigners have attributed the rising numbers to the UK government's inability to introduce adequate guidance for pregnant women and employers during the COVID-19 crisis.

Maternity Action said its helpline alone received 28 per cent more pay rights enquiries between August 2020 and October this year.

The charity launched its legal support service in August 2020 and currently has the resources to help only one in eight callers to its helpline. Meaning thousands of employers could potentially continue to get away with breaking the law.

Ros Bragg - Maternity Action's director - said women should not need to consult a lawyer simply to be paid what the law stipulates they are owed.

"Pregnancy should be a time when women can focus on their family and their new baby," Ms Bragg said.

"However, the financial problems caused by difficulties resolving maternity pay can leave women focusing on their very difficult financial circumstances.

“The pandemic was already difficult. This was an additional stressful, wholly unnecessary, burden."

Ms Bragg said processing delays at the Department for Work and Pensions, employer confusion about the rules and uncertainty among women about which public agency could help them were among the primary reasons women are losing money.

These issues were compounded by COVID, she said, once furlough came into play.

"Government guidance for pregnant women and their employers was woeful," Ms Bragg said. "We waited nine months for any government guidance for pregnant employees, but no guidance was ever issued for employers in managing pregnant women."

"The dearth of guidance meant the government never told employers how to tackle furlough entitlements for pregnant women or how to approach paid maternity suspension - when you suspend pregnant women on full pay because you can't provide safe working conditions.

"The government's earliest announcement advised pregnant women to self-isolate, so thousands of women were placed on statutory sick pay instead of receiving furlough or paid maternity suspension.

"Which means they lost a lot of money, which will amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds across the country. Every day I'm astounded at how many calls we take from women struggling to access even their most basic rights and entitlements at work."

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy said, "Protecting and enhancing workers' rights is an absolute priority for the government, which is why we increased our support for expectant parents during the pandemic, and have committed to establishing a single enforcement body to protect vulnerable workers - including pregnant women - across the UK.

"We have taken a range of significant action to protect workers' rights since last year, including taking steps to protect the earnings of furloughed workers receiving maternity pay during the pandemic."

Maternity pay and leave: women’s rights

By law, pregnant women are entitled to a year of Statutory Maternity Leave.

However, while they are entitled to 52 weeks off work, they will only receive maternity pay for 39 of them. If they are eligible.

Leave can begin eleven weeks before the baby is due or the day after they are born, if they arrive early.

Women don’t have to take the 52 weeks they are entitled to but they must take at least two weeks off work following birth.

Maternity leave is made up of two different parts. Paid holiday, protection from unfair dismissal and pension rights are protected, regardless of how much leave is taken.

* Ordinary Maternity Leave: this is the first six months. If a woman returns to work during this period, she has the right to return to exactly the same job that she had before she took maternity leave.

* Additional Maternity Leave: this is the second six months and affects what rights women have when they go back to work. If a woman takes more than six months’ leave, she has the right to return to the same job unless it is no longer available. In this case, she must be given a similar job with the same pay and conditions.

Statutory Maternity Pay is the legal minimum an employer normally has to pay you while an employee on maternity leave.

Women get Statutory Maternity Pay if they earn at least £120 a week on average and have worked for their employer for 26 weeks when they reach the 15th week before their due date.

If a woman is self-employed or doesn’t qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay, they might be able to get Maternity Allowance.

The Maternity Pay Calculator will calculate an employee’s exact entitlement.

To claim Statutory Maternity Leave and Pay, an employee must inform their employer of their intention to go on maternity leave at least 15 weeks before the baby’s due date.

An employee must provide proof of their pregnancy to their employer to get maternity pay.

This can be her MATB1 certificate or a letter from her doctor or midwife.

Women have the right to change their minds about the end of their maternity leave.

But they must give their employer eight weeks’ notice if they want to return later or earlier.

Source: Mirror 

(Link and quotes via original reporting)

A new report has warned that pregnant women are being wrongly denied maternity pay to the tune of millions of pounds and the number has exploded since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mirror reports.

The charity Maternity Action said many expectant and new mothers are losing income that they are entitled to and this year alone the charity has reportedly recovered more than £1million for women subjected to pay discrimination.

Maternity Action said many more expectant and new parents are missing out on the support they are legally entitled to.

Campaigners have attributed the rising numbers to the UK government's inability to introduce adequate guidance for pregnant women and employers during the COVID-19 crisis.

Maternity Action said its helpline alone received 28 per cent more pay rights enquiries between August 2020 and October this year.

The charity launched its legal support service in August 2020 and currently has the resources to help only one in eight callers to its helpline. Meaning thousands of employers could potentially continue to get away with breaking the law.

Ros Bragg - Maternity Action's director - said women should not need to consult a lawyer simply to be paid what the law stipulates they are owed.

"Pregnancy should be a time when women can focus on their family and their new baby," Ms Bragg said.

"However, the financial problems caused by difficulties resolving maternity pay can leave women focusing on their very difficult financial circumstances.

“The pandemic was already difficult. This was an additional stressful, wholly unnecessary, burden."

Ms Bragg said processing delays at the Department for Work and Pensions, employer confusion about the rules and uncertainty among women about which public agency could help them were among the primary reasons women are losing money.

These issues were compounded by COVID, she said, once furlough came into play.

"Government guidance for pregnant women and their employers was woeful," Ms Bragg said. "We waited nine months for any government guidance for pregnant employees, but no guidance was ever issued for employers in managing pregnant women."

"The dearth of guidance meant the government never told employers how to tackle furlough entitlements for pregnant women or how to approach paid maternity suspension - when you suspend pregnant women on full pay because you can't provide safe working conditions.

"The government's earliest announcement advised pregnant women to self-isolate, so thousands of women were placed on statutory sick pay instead of receiving furlough or paid maternity suspension.

"Which means they lost a lot of money, which will amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds across the country. Every day I'm astounded at how many calls we take from women struggling to access even their most basic rights and entitlements at work."

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy said, "Protecting and enhancing workers' rights is an absolute priority for the government, which is why we increased our support for expectant parents during the pandemic, and have committed to establishing a single enforcement body to protect vulnerable workers - including pregnant women - across the UK.

"We have taken a range of significant action to protect workers' rights since last year, including taking steps to protect the earnings of furloughed workers receiving maternity pay during the pandemic."

Maternity pay and leave: women’s rights

By law, pregnant women are entitled to a year of Statutory Maternity Leave.

However, while they are entitled to 52 weeks off work, they will only receive maternity pay for 39 of them. If they are eligible.

Leave can begin eleven weeks before the baby is due or the day after they are born, if they arrive early.

Women don’t have to take the 52 weeks they are entitled to but they must take at least two weeks off work following birth.

Maternity leave is made up of two different parts. Paid holiday, protection from unfair dismissal and pension rights are protected, regardless of how much leave is taken.

* Ordinary Maternity Leave: this is the first six months. If a woman returns to work during this period, she has the right to return to exactly the same job that she had before she took maternity leave.

* Additional Maternity Leave: this is the second six months and affects what rights women have when they go back to work. If a woman takes more than six months’ leave, she has the right to return to the same job unless it is no longer available. In this case, she must be given a similar job with the same pay and conditions.

Statutory Maternity Pay is the legal minimum an employer normally has to pay you while an employee on maternity leave.

Women get Statutory Maternity Pay if they earn at least £120 a week on average and have worked for their employer for 26 weeks when they reach the 15th week before their due date.

If a woman is self-employed or doesn’t qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay, they might be able to get Maternity Allowance.

The Maternity Pay Calculator will calculate an employee’s exact entitlement.

To claim Statutory Maternity Leave and Pay, an employee must inform their employer of their intention to go on maternity leave at least 15 weeks before the baby’s due date.

An employee must provide proof of their pregnancy to their employer to get maternity pay.

This can be her MATB1 certificate or a letter from her doctor or midwife.

Women have the right to change their minds about the end of their maternity leave.

But they must give their employer eight weeks’ notice if they want to return later or earlier.

Source: Mirror 

(Link and quotes via original reporting)