Any excel whizzkids - maternity pay!

[lisacatjohnson]

Hi,

I've contacted my HR and Finance departments in work to ask if they can help me calculate what I will receive in terms of maternity pay throughout the potential maternity period of 52 weeks in order to work out how long I can afford to take off!

Neither can help.

Does anyone know of any websites or spreadsheets that can help. I can get very rough figures but I was hoping to work out what I'll get exactly after tax, which will be dependent on how much of my personal tax allowance I have reached for the year. Not so keen on just waiting to get my pay slip every month to find out, ideally would like to plan in advance but seems tricky!

If it helps at all, I get 8 weeks full pay, 16 weeks half pay + SMP and then SMP to 39 weeks.

I'm rubbish with math so any help appreciated!

Thanks x

Do you want to know how much you'll get in total or how much you'll get each stage.

If I knew how much you earned and your maternity dates (to figure out tax years) I could work it out. However, there are two many variables without that to give a simple explanation.

If you are a higher earner, you might get a tax refund as your tax code for withholding may no longer be correct for the full year.

As a Payroll person, what you are asking isn't an easy thing to do. You are asking your Payroll/HR dept to forecast the next 12 months net pay. Which is not straightforward. They would have to manually calculate the next 12 months pay.

Your expectation is unrealistic, especially given the fact that the government haven't announced the new tax allowance and any possible NI changes for the new tax year in April 17. Then you also have to take into account if you have any pre tax deductions, like pensions.

And if they did forecast it for you, and say an unexpected change happened like a change of tax code, that would change the figures quoted. How would you react if that did happen? Because in the past I have been burnt through no fault of my own and had employees be very nasty on the phone despite my warnings and reservations on net pay predictions. So now I refuse to do them.

I have just gone on mat leave and I haven't done my own. I have what I will get before tax. It's understandable you want to plan your finances, but some things are not practical to produce I'm afraid.

Do you get SMP after 9 months now? It used to stop after 39 weeks.

Thanks ForTheLoveOfSocks I suspected it would be very tricky to do...I was hoping there might be some magical spreadsheet somewhere that I was missing but realise it might just be a case of waiting to see what I get.

I can't imagine how tricky it must be dealing with angry employees/mums!

Thanks for your reply.

Sorry no, SMP just to 39 weeks!

listentotaxman.com/

is quite a good calculator

Lisa do you plan on maintaining your pension contribution rate throughout? Also, have you spoken to you loan company about what their policy is regarding payments during mat leave-- some allow you to stop paying when your salary drops.

For the sake of ease I’ve assumed that once your salary drops you can stop making student loan payments (as that’s fairly common). I assume you keep contributing 7% to your pension during the 50% pay + SMP phase but 7% of the reduced amount rather than your current nominal level of contribution.

1. During your first 8 weeks obviously nothing will change.
2. For the next circa 3 months (roughly) your take home pay will be circa 1,505 until the tax year changes (this is 50% pay + SMP)
3. For the next circa 1 month (new tax year) your take home pay will be 1,547 as the personal allowance will increase by 500 quid (this is still 50% pay + SMP).

After that you’ll drop down to SMP which is 139.58 a week. At that level no national insurance or income tax is due, so that is what you’ll get before making any pension payments. It is totally up to you if you continue contributing to your pension at that point.

After 39 weeks, you get zero.

Happy planning!

Sorry to jump on a thread but londongirl it sounds like you have a very good grasp on these things. Could you possibly answer me a question? I have a fully expensed company car which I will be keeping and my fuel card. I presume I'll still be taxed on these benefits in kind when I'm off and therefore the smp amount I receive will be lower? Also, will I still be taxed on my car and card when it goes to zero?

Londongirl83- you are amazing! Thank you so much, I can begin to make plans and calculate how much leave to take, budget etc.

Always amazed at how kind and helpful people on MN are, a huge thanks again! xx

Vap0 you will owe tax on your benefits in kind if you are still receiving them. Exactly how and when the tax is paid will depend on their value and your tax code. If your tax code is off, you might not initially get taxed properly and have to file a return. Also, there is no tax or NI due until circa 155 quid per week so again, it depends on the weekly value of your benefit.

Lisa I don't know everything about your circumstances so of course these figures might be off. Whatever planning you are doing, I'd still leave a decent buffer. Also, tax rules for 2017 can change, particularly in light of Brexit so nothing is set in stone.

Hi, I'm 13 weeks and not ready to tell work yet and I was wondering if someone much wiser than me might be able to clear up a query I have.

My company only offers SMP. My salary is paid as a base salary which bonus and pension contributions etc are charged on then I get a car allowance which is taxed but is not my salary does not get an inflation based rise, and is not used for pension or bonus calculations. I also get a fuel card for personal and business mileage. My question is, is my car allowance a benefit and therefore payable on top of my SMP? Or would it be considered salary? I would assume that I am able to keep using my fuel card when I'm off. I'm strugling to find any info about how a car allowance might be treated and was hoping someone might know? Thanks!

OP I earn about the same as you and am currently on Mat leave. The first month I was shocked as the way it had been done (something to do with two payments being lumped together) meant I got taxed and loads went to my pension too so I only got about £600. Since then I've been getting around £1100. I opted to have the payments spread evenly, but I won't get any payment at all the last two or three months I think (I'm taking the full year). Hope that helps!

My company has done a prediction for me this time (they didn't 4 years ago with my first).

However you might find this useful. From the government website.

www.gov.uk/pay-leave-for-parents