Hi Robber - this is from the DWP website which is pretty comprehensive re: maternity pay.

"To get SMP you must have been:

Employed by your employer into the qualifying week which is the 15th week before the week your baby is due.
Employed by the same employer without a break for at least 26 weeks into the 15th week before the week your baby is due. Part weeks count as full weeks.
Earning before tax an average of £87.00 a week. This is called the Lower Earnings Limit for National Insurance Contributions (NI) and is the amount you have to earn to qualify for benefits. You have to earn more than this amount before you actually start paying NI."

You get 90% of your income for 6 weeks and then either the standard rate (approx £112 per week) or 90% of your earnings - whichever is LOWER



Meaning that you could go from a good salary to a fairly shite one for 33 weeks BUT they have just extended it to 33 weeks.

Thanks for your answer Cryogenics! Had a good weekend albeit a very rainy one. Good luck Oz with talking to your department - it's your life - no-one else's and you've don't have to explain yourself to anyone. And congratulations - I can only imagine how thrilled you must have been having been told you couldn't have kids. Hello Juno - hope you had a good weekend too and sorry for getting sarcastic with you - no hard feelings?

Sorry Cryogenics - for mispelling your name and just realised that that is too hypothetical as you haven't started yet.

It might be just me who thinks that! When you're used to believing (pretending) that you can control things around you then it's odd to accept that our bodies seem to be such a mystery (at least to me -biology is not my strong point). I also think too much.....
If you imagined having a family sooner Cyrogenics, how do you think it would be regarded by your colleagues where you study? Or is that too hypothetical?

Very true!!! Any men out there who've had kids whilst doing a PhD? I did know someone who had kids straight after BA and so had two littluns whilst doing his PhD. I'm not sure what his experiences were in the office though eg with colleagues. If anything I think both for a man and a woman having kids definitely motivates you to work hard!! You've got them to think about. I'm nearly at the end of my first year and I am really trying hard to pack things in knowing that it will be harder in the future. My supervisor actually brought it up with me (after I was well in to the course) and asked me - which was a great relief as I realised that it must be something that happens. She was lovely and very supportive. Before then I was worried, but didn't want to look back and regret anything. Is it just me or do all women convince themselves they're infertile? And what about men - do you worry about it? If you'll excuse the personal question?

Hi Shani - I think that benefits are given on the basis of residency and therefore apply if you have the right to reside here. But CAB would know for sure.

Don't know if this helps but The Child Poverty Action Group article might also help re: questions on students, pregnancy and maternity pay. I just found this article which looks interesting and shows that people who feel discriminated against re: benefits are taking their claims to court
http://www.cpag.org.uk/cro/wrb/wrb194/pregnant.htm

Oops - sorry here's the link http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Bfsl1/BenefitsAndFinancialSupport/DG_10018869

I agree - this is great! Wow wow wow Pinkneuron! That's truly inspiring. Partly why I'm keen to do a PhD and study is because of my mum. She left school at 15 in 1955 and married, left a job as a bilingual secretary and I know found that she lost alot of confidence. When I was 16 she did her GCSEs, then a BTEC, then an Access Course and got her BA when she was 61. I know she loved us children, but I know too that it made her sad that she hadn't found all the excitement and confidence that studying brought her sooner. I bet your kids are truly inspired by you. Shani - Here's a link to some info on maternity benefits. I think that Statutory Maternity Pay is for employees only but the Maternity Allowance might apply if you are working part-time. I may be wrong, but that's how i read it. The Citizens Advice Bureaux are really helpful and their website might be too.

I think you're right Cyrogenics. It's been a very interesting debate I think! It will be tough and it's important to know this. It is also worth knowing what financially you would be entitled to if you are making such a decision. I checked out maternity pay if unfunded and it just doesn't exist for students in the UK (I'm fairly sure that's right but then Unis might have their own funds available - would be interesting to know). Creches at Uni are where I am anyway slightly subsidised. And the AHRC will continue to fund for 6 months whilst on maternity leave, the six months added on to the 3 year funded figure.

PS Shani - your question about whether it is more ok for those unfunded. I think it doesn't matter and as I said, if you are funded some award bodies give 6 months maternity like the AHRC. They don't however inform students beforehand - you only find out when you get the manual. Thus I was going to do it unfunded and part-time and start a family. I think the real difference sadly is that it is probably financially harder if you're not funded and that's what those who would criticise maternity pay for students should note. That it's rare.

So if anyone was feeling concerned about how they would be treated they should approach student services and discuss it for reassurance. I agree with all the comments Kronkodile, Oz. I think the idea that you just should not apply for a PhD because of some idea you will affect others if you become pregnant is strange. It's a dangerous argument because you could apply it to a whole section of people who might have to take time off because of illness, or a pre-existing disability.

I think that's great that you are planning now Shani if it's right for you and I'd like to join you and say I am too! In a perfect world I would have had had a baby and then effortlessly moved into a PhD but people's lives are not maps that can be drawn and enacted. I think if Universities were asked they would be keen to emphasise that they offer education to a wide sample of the population, particularly perhaps at PhD level. I have met three women in the last 9 months all doing PhDs either with pre-existing families or pregnant or having had a child during that time.

I also don't understand Juno's idea that women have a family then a career, that this is the correct order and that they are separate issues. You don't just have kids then put them in a little box whilst you start a career - they are still there and you have to deal with building a career as a mother and society has a role to play in that. But don't worry Juno - if I get pregnant in the next few years I shall always remember your words with a smile! "Sickness is inevitable" and reach for a mask...

Thanks Cyrogenics - I think your points are really interesting and I think they provide a really balanced view of what to think about when making that decision. I don't personally agree with them but I respect your opinion because it is measured and non-judmental. My problem with Juno's post is that it reinforces an idea that women who are pregnant are rendered incapable and vomit ceaselessly which is actually almost funny. Morning sickness is not inevitable, it only lasts the first trimester and I just think implying that women become somehow lacking when they get pregnant adds to a pre-existent prejdice that women face. I think any woman considering having a family whilst doing a PhD will have considered the issues for herself.