Off sick before maternity leave

[Nellysgirl]

Hi, hope someone can help me out with something I'm worried about.
I have been in my job about 6-7 years. I'm due to go off on mat leave soon but had to have few weeks off sick which was unavoidable.
Now I have heard that your maternity pay is calculated based on your last 8 weeks earnings. Not sure if this is right? My company doesn't pay sick so I'm worried if this is the case that my mat pay will be very low? I'm only due statuary anyway which isn't a great deal.

P.s I'm not just being lazy I have looked it up and asked for advice but it all seems to conflict. Stupid as it may sound I don't want to ask my employer without knowing my rights. Sigh....

Statuary maternity pay is £136.78 a week or 90% of your average weekly earnings depending on which is lower. Don't think its calculated on your last 8 weeks of work but I could be wrong.

For the first 6 weeks of maternity leave your paid 90% of your weekly earnings which is based on the last 2 weeks of your working. So your sick leave may affect that.

It's weeks 18-25, I think.

If you Google HMRC maternity pay you go to their site where it asks you questions about your pay between certain dates and calculates your mat pay.

Here's the link:

www.gov.uk/maternity-paternity-calculator

Depends who you work for.

Mine is calculated from pay weeks 17-25. Thank god I was back off sick by week 16. Otherwise, yes my 90% pay would be awfully low.

it is based on the average of 8 weeks earnings up to and including the last pay day before the end of the qualifying week (which is 15 weeks before your estimated delivery date), from what I understand.

from dwp:

Your employer must work out your average weekly earnings to find out whether or not you qualify for SMP and, if so, at what rate. As a general rule, your earnings will be averaged over a period of at least 8 weeks up to and including the last pay day before the end of the qualifying week. This period is called the 'relevant period'. But the calculation may differ from this, depending on your pay period.
For SMP purposes, pay means gross pay that is due before any deductions. The gross pay you get from your employer in the relevant period will be taken into account, as long as it counts for NI contributions (or would count if you earned enough or were old enough to pay NI contributions).
Sick pay, overtime, bonus payments, arrears of pay and even, in most circumstances, holiday pay, must all be included if you actually get them at this time. It is when you get the money that counts, not when it was earned.
Average earnings should include all earnings and contractual benefits on which you pay National Insurance contributions, except Class 1B contributions which arise from a PAYE tax settlement agreement which your employer makes with HM Revenue and Customs. However, if you fail to qualify for SMP because some of your earnings are accounted for under the PAYE settlement agreement, your employer should recalculate your gross pay to include the elements giving rise to Class 1B National Insurance contributions.

The 'set period' or 'relevant period' is needed to establish the earnings to be used and the number of days, weeks or months to divide those earnings by. All earnings paid in the 'set period' are divided by the number of days, weeks or months in that 'set period'.

Regulations define the 'set period' as the period between:

Date 1 the last normal payday on, or before the Saturday of the 15th week before the baby is due. This payday will be Date 1 in the 'set period'
Date 2 the last normal payday falling not less than eight weeks before the payday at Date 1. Date 2 will be the day after this payday and is the start of the 'set period'
should include all the earnings paid on, or after Date 2, up to and including those paid on Date 1.

The 'set period' ends with the last normal payday on, or before the Saturday in the 15th week before the week baby is due and starts with the day after the last normal payday at least eight weeks before that.