When/how is maternity pay calculated? Unpaid leave & relief hours

[firstpregnancy]

Does anybody know anything about how maternity pay is calculated?

I have 2 jobs, one is with the NHS - I normally work 15.5 hours a week. However, I had a problem with my car last week and have had to take unpaid leave for a week, which will come out of my wages at the end of January (I will be about 25 weeks then - baby due May 11th 2011). Just wondering what weeks they use to calculate your pay, and whether this would affect it, and if so, is there anything I can do about it?

Also, in my 'other' job, I am currently covering some relief hours that I get paid extra for. Will this be taken into account when they calculate my pay, or will it just be on my 'regular' hours.

Thanks in advance. I can't seem to find anything useful about this online at all

They calcultate it using the 8 weeks before the 15 week before your EDD (or roughly weeks 17-25 in normal language!) You cang et good info/advice on the HMRC website regarding qualifying for SMP.

Thanks Chynah. It would have been week 17 that I had to take unpaid leave, which is really frustrating. Not sure if my pay will be affected by this though. I'm guessing that it will, and there is nothing I can do about it.

Just wish I had the option of making up the hours, rather than having to take unpaid leave. There must have been lots of people having to do the same because of the weather these last weeks - feels really unfair. Ah well, I suppose there's nothing I can do about it now.

They take an average of what you earned over that 8 week period and as long as its something like £120 (?) per week (and you meet the other criteria) you get full SMP). Ring HMRC - they really are helpful or there is a calculator to see if you qualify on their website.

Thanks! I will phone them and see what they say.