maternity pay question

[heylottie]

Hello all
I get 6 weeks maternity pay from my employers at 100% - I then go to SMP for the rest of my leave.

Am I right in thinking that the government reimburse 90% of this 6 weeks to my employers, so that my work in effect pay 10 % of my wages for 6 weeks?

If that is so - what happens if they were to pay me, say, 12 weeks mat pay, before SMP kicks in? Does the government reimburse only 90% of the first 6 weeks, or the full 12?

I hope that makes sense... and thanks for any knowledge!!!

Hi heylottie.

The goverment will reimburse your employer 92% of the SMP paid to you. (Unless they are a very small employer with a low NIC bill in which case I think they get more). As you will be paid 100% for 6 weeks, this will be 90% SMP, and 10% extra paid for by your employer.

But, they'll pay more than 10%, as they'll be paying the whole extra 10% during those six weeks, plus they'll only be recovering 92% of the SMP bit, and then there's employer's NI on SMP as well.

If they paid you 12 weeks at full pay, they'd get 92% of 90% of your average weekly earnings for 6 weeks, and then 92% of the standard SMP rate for the next 6 weeks, and they would foot the bill for the rest.

Hope that helps.