Maternity pay and reduction in hours?

[nellypope]

I have been working Full time and earning around �18,000pa. But my employer wants me to reduce my hours. My baby is not due until early October, will my maternity pay be reduced if I take a reduction in hours or will it be worked out over a longer period of time?

Does anyone know who I would speak to (benefits agency maybe?) with regards to confirming this info?

Many, many thanks in advance!

[redcrx]

i believe that your maternity pay is calculated on the average of your 3 months pay before taking leave.

so yes, reducing your hours now will afect your maternity pay, unless your employer is paying you any additional sums of money to the governm,ent payments.

[ojread2]

its an average of the 8 weeks before the qualifying period, not 3 months

[Coppertop84]

Ojread2 is right. The date 15 weeks before the baby is due is known as the last qualifying date and if monthly paid the two paydays on or before that date/ if weekly paid the 8 paydays on or before that date are used to calculate your higher rate 90% statutory maternity pay for the first 6 weeks of leave, so yes if your pay is reduced during that period then it will affect your payment.

The final 33 weeks of paid leave are only at the rate of �123.06 for 2009/10 tax year or the 90% average rate whichever is lower, so unless your reduced pay makes your 90% of average weekly earnings fall below this then the 33 weeks following the initial 6 weeks will be unaffected.

[PeteHull]

They cannot reduce your hours without your consent, you should have an employment contract and job description and if you haven't your employer is in breach.
You ought to think about joining a union if you aren't already in one, they would be able to help you with this, if not have a waord with CAB or ACAS. Googling will find the websites for you.

Hope you get sorted.

Pete