Maybe someone here can help. I am in my final year of the PhD. Money runs out in September and I am hoping to finish lab work by the end of October at the very latest.
I am also 7 weeks pregnant, baby is due 24th december (yep, a little suprise and what timing!).
However, although I am MRC sponsored, I get no maternity allowance at all. The sponsorship isn't direct so the MRC can't use their usual decent maternity support. The uni will only do hardship funds, but I am definitely looking into this.
The most annoyinhg thing though is this: I won't even qualify for the government Maternity Allowance, which is apparently given to all women; or at least all women with the exception of PhD researchers it seems. This is £106 a week and is a lot of money to not get.
Has anyone had this experience? Was I misinformed?