I need some advice on SMP. I am due to give birth in November. I am the director and only employee of my business and as an employer will soon be applying for an advance payment of SMP from HMRC. As the 39 weeks of SMP fall in this tax year and the next I was planning to apply for 19 weeks advance payment this tax year and then 20 weeks advance payment next tax year to avoid paying tax on next year's allowance (as I know the business will be put on hold for a while and I won't reach my threshold for taxable income). My question is: can I apply for an advance payment of the whole 39 weeks this tax year as a company, but only pay it to myself in the next tax year to avoid paying unnecessary tax on it? My other question is if I claim SMP for the first couple of months and then decide to close the limited business to go back to being self-employed can I then make a claim for maternity allowance even though I will have been employed during the qualifying period and will have already received some SMP?…
Read Full Answer
Can I withdraw from a flexible working agreement if it is no longer in my business's interests?
…
Read Full Answer
I am 35 weeks pregnant and have been told my role is being made redundant. I have worked at the organisation for five years and have an 8 week notice period. I have been told I will not receive my full pay during this period, only my maternity pay. This is because my contractual notice period is at least one week longer than the statutory notice period. This seems very unfair. I thought the point of statutory requirements was to provide a minimum level of protection and I feel this is effectively being side stepped. Is there anything I can do?…
Read Full Answer
I have a great desire to open my own cafe and also to start a company that allows me to sell my art craft work. But I'm having difficulty in figuring out how to get financial help. Could I get help with my business plan and advice from mentors? How can I find them? I live in Worthing, West Sussex.…
Read Full Answer
I'm currently on six months maternity leave from a senior management position. I've just seen an email that someone has been appointed to a role which is almost identical to mine, with the same remit and responsibilities, but a slightly different job title. This affects the remit of the role I'll do on my return and also my seniority, damaging future promotion prospects which I've been aiming towards. I long suspected this. The company was going through an organisational restructure whilst I was pregnant and I was given no information on how my job would be affected. I pretty much felt sidelined during my entire pregnancy (my boss was openly skeptical about whether I'd return at all). I did postpone my maternity start date from 35wks pregnant to 38wks to help them recruit maternity cover for me. They hadn't sorted anything out by my original finish date (despite telling them about my pregnancy at 10 weeks!) and were vague about cover plans (my boss cancelled all my last one to ones so I lost all opportunity to discuss it properly). However, my boss didn’t like the candidates we interviewed. When I went on maternity leave, it was all still up in the air and my role and future uncertain. I was pretty stressed by it all to be honest, but didn't feel like I had any time to address it with them. This new appointment isn't a maternity cover role, but I feel it directly affects my job. What are my rights? I feel really let down by my company, especially after I postponed my leave to help them sort this. I've always shown loyalty and had glowing appraisals and top bonuses. I feel like they wrote me off the moment I became pregnant.…
Read Full Answer
