Maternity Negotiations
I am discussing possible maternity packages with my company. I am not pregnant but I am planning ahead and as my company is small and has no official policy I wanted to get as much info as possible so I can work out whether the maternity period is financially viable. I had an initial conversation with my line manager ‘M’ and when I explained to him what statutory pay is in the UK (6 weeks 90% pay and weeks 7-39 at £194.30/week) his response was ‘well that’s not enough!” We discussed my future plans and I made clear I am returning to work after 9 months, may need some flexibility with WFH adjustments but no drop in hours. As our company had recently been acquired by a large global company he had to discuss with their HR. From the conversations it seemed as if the company would be very supportive and offer a generous package. Wording such as ‘give her what she wants’ was thrown around. M has left the business and conversations have been taken over by another manager D.
I have received the proposal put forward by global companies HR department and I can’t help but be disappointed. 12 weeks full pay and remaining 27 weeks on statutory £194.30/week. Although the 12 weeks is amazing, the drop to statutory is significant and wouldn’t even cover my half of the household bills/mortgage let alone a baby.
I am going to see if there’s room for negotiation but does anyone have advice at all?