NHS promotion pre Mat Leave

[USaYwHatNow]

I'm in the very fortunate position that I have been promoted just before I'm due to go on maternity leave-matter of weeks, just doing handover/takeover of caseload now. I work for the NHS and have been promoted to B7 nursing sister but in a non clinical role. Will I see a change in my maternity pay or because its already been calculated will I just see the benefit when I return from mat leave? Payroll have not been particularly helpful.

I think your stat maternity pay is based on your average salary over weeks 17 -25 of your pregnancy. However, you should get your 8 weeks full pay and (is it) 18 weeks half pay at your current B7 salary.

Disclaimer is I currently work for NHS but had my last baby 14 years ago so could have changed!

Great thank you. I'm going to cause payroll such a headache because I've opted to spread my pay over the year. Thank you though that's really helpful x

Hi, I'm an NHS worker and was on maternity leave during 2021. Unless I've completely misunderstood, your maternity pay is made up of occupational maternity pay (OMP) and statutory maternity pay (SMP). SMP is a set amount regardless of earnings (you can check on HMRC website) but it's about £650 per month and is paid after week 8 up until 39 weeks. OMP is based on your average earnings in week 17-25 of pregnancy. You can either have this paid as 8 weeks of average earnings and 18 weeks of half average earnings plus SMP or you can spread payments equally. I didn't know this until after I filled in my maternity paperwork but it's only the OMP that gets split into equal payments. SMP will always be paid as £650 (or whatever it is) per month between 8 and 39 weeks. Deciding whether to split the OMP into equal payments will only affect you for the first 26 weeks. If you do decide to have equal payments you'll get paid more weeks 8-26 rather than the first 8 weeks because that's when the SMP kicks in. If that's confusing I think there's some NHS website somewhere that explains it better, took me a while to get my head round it to be fair!

Oh and to answer your actual question, as OMP is based on earnings between week 17 and 25 of pregnancy, any promotion or higher earnings you've had after week 25 of pregnancy won't have any effect on your maternity pay. (Unless I've got this completely wrong 😅)

Your maternity pay is based on your qualifying weeks, so you will not see the benefit of your new band until you return. I am on the same position, got a b7 role 1 week before I went on May leave and averaging my pay over 7 months. My pay this month is based on previous salary.

Hi there, I am in a similar position now! Did your maternity leave come through as your new salary or previous one in the end?