# Trust confirmed, and Greg's statutory paternity pay is zero

Three of the four standing questions closed on **31 Aug 2026**.

## 1. Trust: North Cheshire and Mersey NHS Foundation Trust (Warrington)
Formerly Warrington & Halton Teaching Hospitals (WHH) — the trust has been renamed and `whh.nhs.uk` now 301-redirects, so any cached link or older leaflet needs re-checking before it goes in a lesson. Maternity is at Warrington Hospital, Croft Wing, Lovely Lane, WA5 1QG.

Real numbers now in `reference/red-flags.html`, replacing the fill-in-the-blanks. The important structural detail: **the split is at 18 weeks, not 20** — EPAU 01925 662320 under 18 weeks, Maternity Triage 01925 275200 (24h) over 18 weeks. Lesson 3 taught the generic "under 20 weeks → EPU" line; their trust's threshold is different, and the card is now the authority.

Birth options are home birth, the Birth Suite (obstetric labour ward) and **The Nest** (midwifery-led unit) — all on one site, which makes the birth-place lesson concrete rather than theoretical when it comes.

## 2. Self-referral is in
The gate that had been open since Lesson 1 is closed. Booking now expected in the 27 Sep–25 Oct window, so Lesson 4 lands with about four weeks of preparation time.

## 3. SPP is zero, and it is not fixable
TWP has never run a salary for Greg. SPP needs ≥£129/wk gross via PAYE across the 26 weeks ending with the qualifying week (24–30 Jan 2027), so the latest possible start was **1 Aug 2026** — already passed. Starting a salary now changes nothing for SPP.

The consequence is bigger than the £389: it removes the last piece of external income during his time off. His paternity pay *is* the cash buffer, and it has to be saved before May 2027. Every money lesson from here should be framed that way rather than around statutory entitlements.

**A flag I raised and then withdrew (1 Sep 2026).** I warned that Greg's zero earnings might fail the Shared Parental Leave *employment and earnings test* (26 of 66 weeks worked, £390 across any 13) and block SPL for Hannah. He pushed back — correctly. Two reasons it doesn't hold: the test is trivially low and he does in fact work; and more decisively, SPL requires Hannah to **stay with the same employer until the week before the leave starts**, and her contract ends 28 May 2027, 19 days after the due date. SPL was never available to them. Trap 4 in `reference/money-and-dates.html` rewritten to say so and close the question.

**What replaced it.** He made the sharper point himself: on a low income there should be *some* support. There is, just through the means-tested door rather than the earnings-based one — **Universal Credit**, which then unlocks the **Sure Start Maternity Grant (£500, first child, claim ≈21 Feb – 9 Nov 2027)** and Healthy Start. Added as a new section. Caveat recorded honestly: UC treats directors as self-employed and the minimum income floor may impute income Greg doesn't have.

He also believed HMRC credits him with ~£12,570 of income. It doesn't — that's the personal allowance, not an assumed wage. Corrected in the money card, along with the consequence he'll care about more: no payroll means **no qualifying year toward his state pension**.

## Lesson about him, not about pregnancy
He argues back on money, from first principles, and the challenge held. He is not deferential to an entitlement claim just because it is sourced. Every future money statement should be tested against *their* facts — her contract end date, TWP's actual payroll — before it goes in a lesson. Generic risk transferred without that filter will cost credibility.

## Still open
- Herman Miller's enhanced maternity scheme + any return-to-work repayment clause. He's checking. Given the 28 May 2027 contract end, a repayment clause is the live danger.
- Whether Pud Pud has symptoms yet (~4+2; sickness would typically start ~13 Sep).
- Whether TWP starts a real RTI payroll — pension year + any future pregnancy.

## Implication for pacing
Nothing now blocks the antenatal-class booking question (~20–24 weeks), and the trust runs its own classes alongside the paid NCT North Cheshire course. Worth raising at the booking appointment rather than in a lesson of its own.