Maternity pay - how to calculate

[insaneindamumbrain]

Hi, hoping someone can help with this! I work for a company where I earn a different amount each month, dependant on how much work I'm given and how busy we are. I'm due in April 2020, so from the gov website, it looks as though my maternity pay will be based on what I earn in Nov and Dec this year - it says that maternity pay is calculated based on your earnings in the 2 months prior to your final 15 weeks of pregnancy.
Unfortunately we close shop in mid December so my pay will be really low in comparison to what I usually earn (say around half the amount). I'm wondering if based on the amount I would even qualify for maternity pay, even though most months of the year I am earning more than enough to qualify.
Does anyone have any advice? I'm wondering if I've got the wrong end of the stick about this as if my due date was a different time of year, I could technically be basing my maternity pay on a really well paid month which also wouldn't really reflect my average earnings...
Any help would be much appreciated!!

Sadly it's true the "qualifying week" is very specific and follows set rules/ calcs. This will only affect your 6 weeks 90% pay calc. the rest will paid at the standard rate.

Thanks so much for the reply! At least I know I've not misunderstood the info online.
My employers suggested I either take some hours away from this month and tack them on to December to even the pay out, or work out what I think my average pay is and invoice them for that amount in December even if I don't work that amount (I will then work any additional hours that they paid me for in January.)
I'm not sure either solution is a great idea, as it's so hard to calculate how much I will be short in December. And if I choose the second option, it feels like I would be committing fraud to invoice them for hours I haven't actually worked yet.

It won't have a huge impact as you only get 90% of your earnings for the first 6 weeks, after that it's just £150/week.

To work out what you'll get for those 6 weeks, use this calculator:
www.gov.uk/maternity-paternity-calculator

Hi, thanks for the reply! But isn't it £151.20 per week or 90% of your pay - whichever is lowest?

For the first 6 weeks, yes. So if you earn more than £168/week on average during the qualifying period (£1456 in total for the 2 months), you'll get more SMP, but earn less than that and you'll just get £151.20/week.

Difficult to advise further without knowing your exact due date, pay date, and earnings.

Thank you. Its difficult to advise on my earnings because I don't know in advance how much work I will have, which is so frustrating.
Due date is 13th April. I'm paid on the last working day of the month and pay ranges anywhere from £500-£1200 a month.
However I think you are right in that it will hopefully not affect me too much if it's only the first 6 weeks. I just don't want to end up not qualifying for maternity pay at all as I am usually eligible.

You most probably will be eligible for SMP, you need to earn £120/week on average during the qualifying period, which is £1040 in total.

Basically, if your total earnings for November and December are £1040 or more, you'll get SMP.

I think it could potentially be touch and go - especially depending on what Covid gets up to in the next couple of months, but thanks so much for all the advice! It's very helpful to know the minimum I need to earn in total over the period. Hopefully I can make it happen!

If you don't earn enough to qualify for SMP, all is not lost. You'll be able to claim Maternity Allowance instead which is also £151.20/week. The good thing about MA is that there's more flexibility when it comes to calculating your average earnings - you can choose the weeks/months when you earned the most.