Maternity leave and Computershare childcare vouchers

[strawberry2017]

I do computershare childcare vouchers (for my 2.5 year old)and I'm looking for advice from someone else who also uses them and has had maternity leave whilst claiming them.
Anyone out there that understands how they and can help me?

What is it you want to know?

I've been in the scheme since early 2018, recently had my second baby 6 weeks ago.
My company offer 8 weeks full pay and my pay hasn't been full pay. (When I say full I mean the amount I get normally after the voucher deduction)
They said it's because of my childcare vouchers but i don't understand why.
Any clue?
X

It's not really a voucher question..
What does your pay slip say?

When you had maternity did you notice an additional drop in your wage other then what's normal.

Work responses was this

Part of your wages are given up or ‘sacrificed’ in exchange for the face value of childcare vouchers. Your SMP will be calculated at a lower rate after the salary sacrifice deductions. As Payroll confirmed in their response - 'When OMP is calculated it is based on what you are paid in your qualifying period plus any increase in salary you receive prior to you going on maternity. When the OMP is calculated if you have child care voucher’s in this qualifying period your earnings are lower than if you did not.' And why your salary is lower than normal.

The start of the relevant period to work out maternity pay is the day after the last normal payday falling at least 8 weeks before the end of the relevant period. The (relevant period) qualifying week is the 15th week (Sunday to Saturday) before the week the baby is due.

So please forgive me because I'm rubbish with numbers but let's say I make £1000 a month. I chose to sacrifice £100 to vouchers each month meaning my take home is usually £900 but since beginning maternity leave my take home has become £850

Are they saying they are working out my OMP on the £900 not the £1000 which is why I'm coming away with £850 instead of the £900?

Sorry does that make any sense at all? I'm trying to get my head round it.

Hi Op, yes my maternity pay is worked out on gross less vouchers, this is because you dont pay tax or NI on vouchers so why it is worked out on lesser amount is what I understood.

@keepinghopeful thank you, I didn't have anything that told me that so was your wage less then normal on maternity too?
Did you have to pay anything back when you returned to work?
I've been told when I drop to SMP that I'll have to pay money back to work but again can't find anything written down about it and work can't provide me with anything either. X

Salary sacrifice means exactly that, you've given up £100 for childcare vouchers. Great while you're working, you're saving tax and NIC on that £100, but as soon as something needs to be calculated on your gross pay - SMP, or life insurance if you go under a bus - it's on the £900 because that is your salary now.

Re SMP, it's enough to cover the childcare vouchers but there's no benefit in sacrificing it because SMP isn't enough to pay tax and NI. So you're better off reducing them to £20 a month until you're back to work.

Employers used to pay the childcare vouchers on top of maternity pay but unfortunately a court case ruled that this wasn't necessary so unless they've set a precedent by doing it for others I think it will be tricky to argue for that one.

SMP and by extension OMP is calculated in weeks. So you will get more in a 5 week month and less in a 4 week month.

@strawberry2017, my maternity doesnt start until next month and im getting it split equally over 10months but Im assuming that yeah it would be less than normal .. i only get full pay for 4 weeks then percentages of pay rest of time

Thank you, I appreciate your help.
Did your work inform you of any of this? My work didn't tell me anything and I found out the hard way when I noticed my wage was lower then I expected.
They don't have it covered in any policy and I'll be honest never once occurred to me to check the computershare t+c's (maybe it should have done)

It has nothing to do with computershare.

It’s to do with your pay calculation.

@keepinghopeful how did you find out you could split it over 10months - is this something your work offer or is this available to all parents?

When are you due? Good luck with everything x

@trilbydoll COVID has done me a favour in that im able to save the vouchers at the moment due to nursery been closed and I'll have enough saved that I can drop to the £20 and still send my eldest to nursery when I'm on SMP without owing anything at the end.

Our place is policy mad (nhs) and I think because none of this is covered anywhere that's what I'm struggling with.
I feel like an idiot for not knowing but I honestly didn't know where this info was to find or that there were things that would effect me.

Don’t drop you voucher amount when you are on SMP. They can’t legally take deductions from your SMP, so a lot of companies (including mine) will just pay the vouchers for you during this period. You can check with your individual payroll.

@Smarshian this was indeed the case when I had dd2 but then an employment tribunal ruled against it. We still cover them because we have done it in the past so feel there's a precedent but I don't think employers have to.

www.lawgazette.co.uk/legal-updates/childcare-vouchers-and-maternity-leave/5055128.article

@Smarshian

Don’t drop you voucher amount when you are on SMP. They can’t legally take deductions from your SMP, so a lot of companies (including mine) will just pay the vouchers for you during this period. You can check with your individual payroll.

My sister thought this because that's what her work did but I was told when I return I'll have to agree an amount to pay monthly to return the money to them. What confuses me is if there is no policy then how do I know what the options are? They could tell me anything and I'd just have to agree it.