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Can anyone help re maternity allowance/pay slips please?

11 replies

DitaVonCheese · 04/07/2011 09:18

I'm currently 38 weeks pregnant with DC2 and working part-time, about 14 hours a week. I don't qualify for SMP because I was technically pregnant when I started work (I actually wasn't, but scuppered by the counting from LMP thing!). I don't earn much, less than £100/week but am just realising quite how badly it's going to hit us not having my income as well, though I'm not planning on going on ML for long.

I've just been looking at the requirements for maternity allowance and think I qualify, except they want to see my pay slips and I don't have any. I earn below the HMRC threshold for needing to be registered as an employee/PAYE so have usually just been paid in cash, though have recently started having money transferred directly to my account, for which I have to provide a list of hours worked so I can be reimbursed for them.

Does anyone know whether a payslip has to be an official thing or whether I can just submit a list of hours worked since November?

I have declared my hours to the tax credit people and am well below the personal tax threshold so hopefully I haven't done anything wrong.

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Grevling · 04/07/2011 10:42

Doesn't matter if your earning a lot of not if a company pays you they should give you a payslip otherwise HMRC doesn't know how much tax you've paid etc (even if none due). Also it will mean less NI stamps for yourself.

You need to speak to HMRC to work this out and speak to your employer to get a payslip.

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DitaVonCheese · 04/07/2011 12:26

Oh buggeration. My employer is a tiny two person company and the whole thing's pretty informal and if anyone's going to end up talking to HMRC to sort it out then it's going to be me and I really really really can't be arsed :(

I usually end up filling in a self-assessment form so declare income/tax paid etc on that, isn't that sufficient?

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flowery · 04/07/2011 13:14

I don't think you should need to speak to HMRC to sort it out. Just ask your employer to provide you with your payslips- his or her accountant will be able to do it quite easily. It doesn't matter whether you are paid by cash or bank transfer- your employer must have records of how much you've been paid.

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DitaVonCheese · 04/07/2011 13:39

They don't have an accountant apart from one of their wives. It's a really small operation.

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starkadder · 04/07/2011 14:48

Hi Dita. I have the same issue, except my company is so small that I am both the employer and the employee (!). I am currently on hold with HMRC trying to find out how I do my payslips properly to comply with NI (am paying myself below the personal allowance limit so no tax should be applicable) and if I find out anything useful...if they ever answer the bloody phone..I will let you know.

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flowery · 04/07/2011 15:01

If she's competent enough to do company accounts etc then she can certainly manage some payslips. She can get a cd-rom from HMRC if she hasn't already got one.

It doesn't matter how small they are they still have legal and moral obligations and you're going to lose out financially if they don't pull their finger out and get you some basic payslips.

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starkadder · 04/07/2011 15:22

OK, I got too irritated with being on hold for SO LONG on an 0845 number so I gave up.

I think they can do you very simple payslips. You will only get the standard rate of MA if you have paid NI over a 13 week period though. See here.

Since you've been paid below the Lower Earnings Limit (£442/month) then you might not be a Class 2 NI contributir which might mean you only get SMA at £27/week.

But I am foggily feeling my way through this so don't quote me on it. Am hoping someone cleverer will be along in a minute to explain it all.

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DitaVonCheese · 04/07/2011 20:24

Many thanks for the help so far. I don't pay NICs - discussed it briefly with HMRC back in spring but decided it wasn't worth the hassle involved. Does that mean I'm not eligible then? Would make sense I guess. Ah well, no maternity leave for me ...

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DitaVonCheese · 04/07/2011 20:29

Oh god, just baffled by the DWP website. Going to have to spend half my day on hold to them tomorrow aren't I?

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starkadder · 05/07/2011 13:26

I think you might get the £27 quid....

having spent ALL day yesterday trying to deal with this, I am putting it on hold for a few days (am less pregnant than you!) and plan to ask my accountant friend. As soon as I find anything out I'll let you know.

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DitaVonCheese · 06/07/2011 12:58

Thanks stark :) Completely forgot to call them yesterday, will try to do it from work tomorrow. £27 Still better than nothing though ...