A new report has revealed a rising number of pregnant women and mothers who've been wrongly denied maternity pay entitlement since the beginning of the pandemic.
In the 14 months leading up to March 2020, when the pandemic broke out, the charity received 1,626 calls involving denied maternity pay. That figure has now risen to 2,075 enquiries and counting in the 14 months since April 2020.Between the months of August 2020 to October 2021, Maternity Action's legal team supported 250 women in maternity pay discrimination cases.
"Work told me they were not going to pay me and didn’t give a reason,” she said. “I had a newborn and a chronic illness and it was extremely stressful. I felt like I lost the first three months of my maternity leave. I felt like I was at work, checking my emails several times a day.” Similarly, a woman who was made redundant while pregnant was blocked from getting the Statutory Maternity Pay despite being entitled to it, reports the newspaper. She was then forced to claim money from the government. “I was depressed and worried about our finances," she explained. “I was heavily pregnant and due to move house in a couple of weeks and I kept having panic attacks about how we would cope if I didn’t get my Statutory Maternity Pay.
“Pregnancy should be a time when women can focus on their family and their new baby,” she said. “However, the financial problems caused by difficulties resolving maternity pay can leave women focusing on their very difficult financial circumstances. The pandemic was already difficult. This was an additional stressful, wholly unnecessary, burden.”
While we have yet to see real action from the government, a spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy told: “Protecting and enhancing workers’ rights is an absolute priority for the government, which is why we increased our support for expectant parents during the pandemic, and have committed to establishing a single enforcement body to protect vulnerable workers – including pregnant women – across the UK.
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