Please help!!! Trying to work out maternity pay 😭😭😭😭

I'd defo be going back to HR for clarity and getting them to put in writing the sums/working out and total amounts per week/month for you..so it's crystal clear and you have all the correct info to make a decision. That's just me! (I am also self employed now so have to do this crappie stuff for myself but if i was still employed I'd 100% be getting them to do it!)

Can the HR give you some estimates with the actual numbers?

What is your take home per month before tax ? Or is 2434 before tax?

Option 2 looks best as you will get 30% pay of monthly pay plus SMP (£172x4 *or depending how many weeks a month) for 19 weeks.
With option 1 you get half pay plus smp but only 11 weeks worth. And you will pay more tax and more pension deductions if you pay any for these 11 weeks. It makes sense get a little bit less but pay less tax and deductions for longer.

With option 2 you get more money for longer and pay less tax (as you will catch new financial year in April and pay nothing for a long time as well).

Another question is - are you taking the entire 39 weeks?

Option 3 makes no sense to me. 😂

You can actually use next years leave and Bank holidays (if your work pays for them) to extend your leave or cut SMP leave short to earn more.

And sorry, yes you get SMP for 39 weeks - regardless option. It’s just your employer tops it up by whatever their options are. SMP is currently £172 (or something like that) per week.