calculating take home pay with enhanced maternity pay and salary sacrifice

[dodi1978]

Any HR or payroll people on here?

I am six weeks pregnant and am trying to do financial planning. I am trying to calculate my actual take home pay during maternity leave.

First 8 weeks I get full pay (including SMP).
Next 16 weeks I get half pay + SMP.
Then I get SMP only.

As DS1 is in a workplace nursery, I salary sacrifice the full amount for his fees.

I am really struggling to find the 'formula' by which I calculate my actual take home pay, in particular for the weeks of half pay + SMP and SMP only.

half pay + SMP: Will the salary sacrifice be deducted from my half pay, and I then get SMP on top? Or will the salary sacrifice deducted from whatever the sum of half pay + SMP is? What about my workplace pension? Would this be deducted from my half pay only, or from half pay + SMP?

SMP only: Will I have to pay for my nursery fees myself as the amount is too little to do salary sacrifice?

So many questions - thank you, ladies!

OK based on what I found out (ds2 is 15mths) and I work for NHS and even Senior hr people were no help. Week 17-25 are weeks mat pay is based on and this is based on your salary after salary sacrifice (I reduced my sacrifice which is vouchers down to £20 for 2mths and was ablke to amend mthly n this was most cost effective for us)

Hr said my salary sacrifice ie vouchers would come out of enhanced pay (initially they said out of stat as well but adviced them it didn't!)

Anyway I had many an argument once getting a copy of my salary sacrifice agreement that they couldn't base my maternity pay on post salary sacrifice as it was classed in same bracket as sick pay and doing that then taking salary sacrifice from maternity pay also was like paying twice

I had so many condractiditory emails. What happened was my mat pay wasz based on salary minus any sacrifice during period above and actually any vouchers were paid in addition to mat pay for all 10mths so for enhanced, stat and no pay

They have to pay salary sacrifice on top of stat mat pay if you are already in receipt of it :)

Thanks for the answer! So in the months when I only get stat mat pay, they will essentially pay my nursery fees.
I hadn't even thought about the question as to whether my mat pay will be based on normal pay or on sacrified pay. God, that's a whole different level of worry! I think I'll ask some of the nursery mums who have already had a 2nd baby whilst having their first at nursery still...

There has just been a very strange employment ruling that means they don't have to provide childcare vouchers 'for free' during stat pay part of mat leave. So its going to depend exactly what your employer actually provides as the benefit and whether they deem it cash like or not / how they interpret this ruling. Your statutory i.e. 6 weeks @90% mat pay will definately be calculated on your sacraficed salary but your enhanced pay may / may not bring it back up. I think you will need a conversation earlier thsn you may like with hr / your line manager. Ps congratulations!

Expect the ruling ricstat mentioned might change this, but as I understood it childcare vouchers couldn't be taken out of stat mat pay (but had to be continued during mat leave so essentially the company had to just give them to me)

Have you got a link or reference for that ruling RicStar?

www.personneltoday.com/hr/suspending-childcare-vouchers-maternity-leave-lawful-says-eat/

I don't think there would be too many companies that dont salary sacrifice chidcare vouchers so this is very important info for a lot of women going on mat leave. I've kept mine going for 6 months while on enhanced mat pay but l better contact my employers to stop it now. Damn!

Hm, the thing is that I don't use childcare vouchers.

Instead, I salary sacrifice all my pay - only possible because I use my workplace nursery.

I think the best thing to do would be to talk to parents with two kids at the nursery, as they will know what arrangements during their 2nd maternity leave were like... and they are all employed by my employer!