SMP recalculation after a promotion

[amlily]

I was wondering if anyone can shed some light on the following. I received a promotion and payrise prior to going on maternity leave. I was lead to believe that my SMP should me recalculated to include my payrise. However my employer has advised that I am not entitled to a recalculation due to my pay increase being due to a job change. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks

[Daffodil1210]

That doesn't sound right. I'm no expert but would've thought if they gave you a base salary increase prior to you going on maternity leave your SMP should be based on this figure for the first 6 weeks (90% of base salary) regardless of why you received a pay increase. Did this "advice" come from your HR dept or your manager?

[amlily]

My employer's payroll department has advised me; they told me that they have taken advice from HMRC. It just doesn't make sense to me.

[jammiecat]

I have no idea whether this is legal but I would phone ACAS in the morning as they'll be able to advise you. Details are here: www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=2042

[MairyHoles]

I believe SMP is calculated based on your earnings in a certain period - the 8 weeks before your 25 th week of pregnancy. So if you got a promotion/ pay rise after this, then the amount you are due won't change. If you had done lots of overtime during this period then reverted back to your normal hours before ML then you also would have been entitled to the higher average wage based on these dates.

[wafflyversatile]

www.gov.uk/maternity-paternity-calculator

[wafflyversatile]

What Mairy says.

[flowery]

What you are referring to is the Alabaster Ruling, which is a piece of case law which basically means that if a woman receives (or would have received had she been at work) a pay rise after her statutory maternity pay was calculated but before the end of her maternity pay period, her SMP must be recalculated based on the new pay, and the recalculated amount must be backdated.

In all the information/guidance I have found on the issue, there is nothing to indicate that an exception to this ruling applies if the reason for the pay rise is a job change. A pay rise is a pay rise and as far as I know, Alabaster should be applied.

I would suggest asking your employer to point to HMRC guidance/legal guidance stating that Alabaster doesn't apply if the pay rise is the result of a job change. They won't find it.