In a panic about maternity pay

[Babyg1995]

Ok this is going to be a bit rambling as I don't have a clue what to do . I have been off my work sick (pregnancy related) for 5 months now it's 11 weeks until my due date
I thought all I was to do was hand in my matb1 certificate and that was it but I got a email with a maternity allowance form attached can anyone tell me if I should be applying for smp or ma ? My boss is extremely unapproachable I work part time 15 hours a week for the part 3 years any advice would be much appreciated .

If you were just on statutory sick pay then you wouldn't have earned enough in weeks 17-25 of pregnancy to get SMP. You would need to apply for MA instead and submit payslips for the 13 weeks you got the highest wages in the 66 weeks before the baby is due

You have to earn on average at least £118 a week to qualify for SMP I think. If you've been off work sick then the earnings don't meet that. You'd have to apply for MA.

This is the eligibility criteria for SMP:

To qualify forSMPyou must:

earn on average at least £118 a week
give thecorrect notice
giveproof you’re pregnant
have worked for your employercontinuouslyfor at least 26 weeks continuing into the ‘qualifying week’ - the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth

Statutory sick pay is only £94.25 a week for up to 28 weeks so it is under the earnings shown above for SMP

I have been getting my full pay every fortnight which is £215 after NI and pension

£215 per fortnight is less than the £118 per week required to be eligible for SMP (although only just, which is bad luck) so you would only be entitled to MA.
The MA takes a while to go through - I think its 6-8 weeks from when they recieve the form before they make a decision about what you will get. I sent mine in on 9th December and havent heard yet. So you probably want to do that asap. You can also phone for advice or speak to someone on your works HR department

Hey, sorry I hope you don't mind me jumping on this may sound silly but does your employer sort out your smp? Does it all go through them?

Thank you my boss is useless she was really cheeky when I called about it she said I can't have it both ways be off sick and claim full maternity pay ,

Hi OP. I'm in exactly the same situation. I've given my employer my matb1 form and now I need them to send me an SMP1 form and return the matb1 with the reason they can't pay statutory maternity (earnings not high enough). I then need to send this off to apply for maternity allowance. Of course they're being slow about it!

Silly system to be honest as your employer can claim back statutory maternity pay (and then some in some cases!) from the government so I assume it all comes from the same pot. Why can't they just do it one way? I understand if you're self employed there needs to be a slightly different way of accessing the pot.

Hopefull I know it's been really stressful as I have been told different things from different people called helpline this morning and explained they said I need a maternity leave form and send it in so they know which one I've to apply for I've done my maternity allowance for so going to send it in tomorrow anyway just really worried I won't get it sorted as I don't have any experience with this .

yes you can be off sick and claim full maternity pay, she is wrong. As long as your meet the criteria you can claim maternity pay - has she specified on the SMP1 form WHY she isn't paying you SMP? As a business she claims the SMP back from the government, if it's a small business she actually gets back 3% more than she pays you.

You can if you earn over £118 per week. If you dont meet the earnings criteria you wont get SMP

Although it should be based on gross pay, not net pay. What would your gross weekly pay have been in weeks 17-25?

www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/pay theres a calculator here

If you earn £215 a fortnight after pension contributions then you might meet the financial criteria as you earn more gross.

Thanks for your advice every one I have an appointment with citizens advice tomorrow with a lady who's helping me with it all as I really need it sorted .