soo as some of you know i started a xmas temp job at river island in novemeber! that contract has come to an end now and all temps have left besides me and 1 other girl as we are being kept on permant yaayyy!! anyway i found out that i was pregnant b4 xmas and have been hldin off tellin them as i havent actualy signed the contract yet and wont b doing for another 2 weeks!
my hours i have been doing and will carry on doing is delivery shifts which is basicly carryin reallyy heavy boxes up 5 flights of stairs or throwin them up 1 flight at a time (which is very hard work even when not pregnant). so i can safley say that isnt safe for a pregnant lady!

anyway at weeknd i had a slight bleed and i think it was due to just doing 2 much (been working everyday runnin around like a loon in the sales) and carryin things upand down stairs etc. and it got me thinking that its not worth losin my baby over so i must tell them! so i sorted out with the other new girl and we have swapped shifts so she does delivery and im on the shop floor instead..so all hours are covered and manager isnt left short of any! so basically i just went and told her straight and she was fine with it but i still havent signed my contract yet and im worried she might back out? but others say that she would get in trouble if she did now?

also if i kept this job would i be entitled to maternity pay or statuatory pay as im only contract 8 hours a week? sorry for the long post just had a few questions lol..
xxx

I'd imagine you'll be earning under the lower earnings bracket which means you would not qualify for SMP but they will provide you with a SMP1 form to take to the job centre and you'll get maternity pay from them instead

If your earning over £30 a week you'll get maternity allowance x

I don't think she'll back out as she could easily be accused of doing it because you're pg and no employer wants to deal with that.

As for pay, you'll probably be entitled to Maternity Allowance through the job centre as you probs don't earn enough/work enough hours to qualify for SMP and haven't worked there long enoguh. MA is usually something like £120 a week unless your earnings are lower than that per week in which case you'd get 90% of your weekly earnings. You can get a form from job centre website and apply when you're about 28wks I think. You just have to prove your typical earnings for 13weeks of your pregnancy (i think thats how it worked).

Also next year when you have to declare your earnings for tax credits, MA is not included (where as SMP is) so it will look like you earnt less, so you will end up getting higher tax credits. Or at least thats how it worked for me in the year after I had Imogen.

Hope that helped a bit.x

As far as I know for MA you also have to have worked 26 out of the 66 weeks before your due date - which you prob will have. I think im right as I didnt bother applying for MA as I only worked for 13 wks when pg and knew I wouldnt qualify. We really skint atm as im not entitled to SMP, MA, or IS. I could claim JSA but dont think its right when im not really prepared to work again just yet.
Cant really explain the rest of it better than Shell

Im sure the girl will keep up what she said she would do. Even if she doesnt its up to your employer to find someone else who will. Hope you get that contract signed and can relax xxx