Band 3 NHS maternity pay

[Pippin2023]

Hi all,
I’ve worked for NHS for 7 years. And lots of different staff have told me different opinions on how best to work maternity pay.

some say only take 6 months some say it’s financially better to take 12 months and spread payments, due to tax ect.
My question is what have others done themselves here?
Also can anyone who is top of band 3 normal deductions tax, NI, pension tell me what their take home pay was for
6 months
9 months
12 months
I know it’s a big ask but no harm in trying.
thanks in advance.

Hi there.
I'm also band 3 and have started my maternity beginning of the month. This is my second time on maternity as band 3. First time I took 9 months (equal payments), first two months were less, around £500/£600 as you don't get smp for he first 8 weeks, after that it was around £1,100 this was in 2021, I then took one month unpaid leave and ond month a/l so was off for 11 months. Didn't feel i was struggling at all as I managed to save and cleaned a holiday home for extra cash for the unpaid month/short months. This time I have spread it over 12 months, I called HR yesterday as I'm still waiting for a breakdown of payments, I have asked them several times and it's always a different answer of why they couldn't tell me, I tried to work it out myself so that I'd have an estimate of how much I would be having and also making the decision of how long to take off, in the end I decided on 12 month and save in the meantime. Anyway yesterday they said they couldn't tell me until it was approved end of the month which I thought was silly so I asked them to check my payslip (not had it yet) and it stated that OMP this month would be around £680 and next month £700 something so would be something similar each month depending on how many weeks in a month. After next month smp will start on top of this for 7 months so near enougg of full oay as smp is £688. I'm still not sure how they worked this out, it seems a lot to have each month for 12 months but I will update you when I get the breakdown if you'd like?
Also remember you will get child benefits which is £90 i think so a nice bounes.
Sorry for the long reply xx

Also I didn't pay tax when I was on maternity last time (30 hours), never had pension is the only thing that came out as a deduction. I now work 25 hours a weeks and still don't pay tax.

Thanks for response. I’m full time at moment. I absolutely need to know the amounts before I go off. As I’m worried if I take 9 months I’ll be living off like £700 a month which is impossible for me. So I appreciate this info so much. Think I might see if they can equal equal over 10 months then use all my annual leave for another month. I would really appreciate all
and any info you have I’ve been trying to save 100/200 to top myself up while I’m off as well. X

Just requested breakdowns today for 6/9/12 months let’s see what they say if anything! I’m dreading it. If I could get like £800 a month I could manage. But don’t think I’ll get that. Did you get an update on yours? X

I am in the same position and also Band 3 please update once you find out the breakdowns if you dont mind! I'm having the same issues and trying to plan how long i can afford to be off for

Hi, I get my matb 1 form on Friday or early next week hopefully, then I need to send it to payroll they have said. I think 9 months be around 900 a month and 12 months around 750/800 a month. When I know i’m
gonna put it on so others don’t have issues like we have finding out about money.

Thank you that would be great x

I think it's easiest to just wait and see what your payroll department say as every NHS Trust does 'equal payments' differently. I've seen posts on here where people have said their payments were just simply spread equally over 9 or 12 months (despite the fact neither OMP or SMP is payable after 39 weeks) but when I was on maternity leave in 2021, 'equal payments' only applied to OMP which is only payable for first 26 weeks. All it meant was that rather than 8 weeks full pay and then 18 weeks 'half pay plus smp', the OMP was split equally for those first 26 weeks. SMP is still paid at whatever the SMP rate is between weeks 8 and 39 and then if you take the extra 13 weeks to have the full year off you get paid nothing.

maternity.money/calculator

You can put all your pay details in here and it will give you an estimate. It's not perfect but it should give you a decent idea.

I think the £680 a month is before tax,NI & pension. SMP is £170 a week. But obvs we then get taxed ect in this.

Yeah I seen this. But it one does it over 6 months. Not any other. X

I haven't had my breakdown yet, I will be calling this morning and asking them to email it to me.
I agree every trust is different. With my trust you can spread OMP over 39 or 52 weeks and then normal SMP from week 9 to 39. So the first 8 weeks and last 13 weeks will be less as there's no SMP.
I will post my breakdown once I get it x

Right so I called payroll and they are sending out a breakdown, I also asked her to read it out to me so I could write it down for now.
I've had my first OMP in last months pay which also included the bonus and 2 days a/l. This is spread over 52 weeks.
As I said previously I don't pay tax but NI will need to be taken out and 5.7% pension. Also remember to add your child benefits to your budgets 😊
Hope this helps you xx

Thanks so much for offering to post. I know my trust can spread 6/9/12 months. I’m just going with assumption I’ll get around £750 a month.

Mam of 2 girls sorry I’m being silly probably so is that example august 1494 gross. Then minus pension NI & any tax may owe? I’m so useless at this!! X

Not silly at all. Yes so NI and pension needs to come out of it, I've not paid tax on any of my mat pay (this is my 3rd time), and ladies i know have only paid small amount of it. Also, you can put your pension o pause while on maternity and restart when back in work, I've not done this but now of ladies that have.
As I have 3 children i now get £220 every 4th Monday of child benefits, think it's around £90 for one child and £160 for two x

Hi I work 32.5 hours as a band 3 looking on going on maternity in a couple on months times come anyone give me a break down on my maternity pay.

Looking on taking 10/11 months of If I can

Thanks