Maternity pay "relevant weeks" help !

[dippydippy]

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can help as I'm not getting anywhere with payroll at work.

I am currently on SSP - from 18th October to 18th November.

I am trying to work out if this is going to effect my SMP.

When I work out on the calculator from Gov site it is stating that the relevant period is 1st October - 30th November and it is asking for gross wages, I was paid at the end of October so would that figure be included or is it November's and decembers payslip ?!

For clarity my due date is 27.03.2022 and my last day will be 28.02.2022.

I'm only bloody signed off because my employer has made me so stressed and poorly so I'm going to be really upset if my SMP is now affected !

Bump

By my calculation your qualifying week is from 12 Dec and therefore it would be your payslips for October and November that would be what's used to calculate your SMP. I might be wrong though.

If it's only SSP you getting in those weeks then you wouldn't earn enough for SMP and would have to claim maternity allowance instead.

I’m not a payroll expert but my understanding is that it will be based on any pay received during the relevant weeks. So say you are paid on the 30th of each month, you would take the gross pay on your payslip on 30th October and 30th November to then calculate the average weekly earnings.

15 weeks before your due date is December 12th and that's the start of your qualifying week. The relevant pay period is the 2 payslips before the 12th December so that's October and November payslips

workingfamilies.org.uk/articles/calculating-maternity-pay/

Thank you everyone - so my October payslip is normal wage and then my November payslip will have half SSP and half earnings (my company take sickness off the following month you are off - so off in October but taken out of November and then whatever I am off in November is taken out of Decembers payslip)

If I put in just my gross earnings from my October slip in that is enough to get SMP according to the calculator so my half SSP and half salary for my November slip should be okay as it's over the full 8 weeks yes ?

So long as you earn an averaged £120 a week during that time you will be entitled to SMP
The sick pay may affect what you get for the 6 weeks 90% as this is worked off your 8 qualifying weeks
The rest, take your earnings during that time and divide by 8 and if it's more than £120 per week you'll get SMP

This is what the link above says:

If you are paid monthly, you must add together the twopayslips, and divide by two. Then multiply by 12 to get an annual figure, which you then divide by 52 to get a weekly figure.

You need to have earned on average £120 per week to qualify for SMP

And it's definitely gross pay and not net ? Because my gross pay will always be the same amount each month, then they deducted and sick leave, tax, ni and then add on any SSP to give net pay - in which case my being off for 4 weeks won't impact as my gross is the same every month ?

Yeah it's your pay before any deductions :)

Ahhh so I'm worrying for nothing

Hi, I'm going to direct you to this link as it explains it in question 6 and 7 - I know your situation is not covid related but it's still relevant with you being on sick pay. maternityaction.org.uk/covidmaternityfaqs/maternitypay-allowance/

If you don't qualify for SMP because of lower earnings in the qualifying period you will be able to apply for Statutory Maternity Allowance SMA instead. It can be the same amount of money provided you qualify for that one - the £151.97 applies if you've been employed 26 weeks out of 66 weeks before your due date, and you'll get £151.97 a week or 90% of your usual average earnings whichever is lower. So if you usually earn £151.97 a week on average you can get same amount you would on SMP. More info on the government website.

Sorry to hop on your post but I’m in a similar situation with very similar dates. I’m paid full sick pay so my full salary whilst im off sick. Will this affect my smp as it’s not earnings as such?

I'm so confused if it's based off of gross - how can SSP be part of it ?

My payslips are always laid out as
Gross pay
Unpaid absence
SSP
Tax
Ni
Net pay

So if they only use gross, my gross is always the same, then they minus off unpaid leave and then add back on SSP to get to the net pay

It's actual pay they use so if you're getting your usual wage while off sick then SMP won't be affected

Maybe they just do their payroll in a strange manner then

I get my usual pay, then they deduct unpaid absence - so sick leave - then add on SSP so my net pay is going to be lower than normal but gross pay never changes

Whatever your take home before tax is during those 8 weeks is what they will base it off. If you get sick pay for any of those weeks it could reduce the amount but you need to take your earnings over that 8 week period, divide by 8 and take the average and if it averages out you'll be fine

It's not going to be done from your gross yearly pay

So it is going to have a massive affect, the 8 week window I'm currently off for 4 of those but could end up being all 8 .... all because they're making me ill

Have you tried this? www.gov.uk/maternity-paternity-calculator

It's your pay before deductions that's considered, but I have to admit I don't know how SSP works.

That's the calculator I've been using but it wants my pay between 1st October and 30th November - I only have my October payslip so far, my November payslip will be affected by the SSP

"Gross Pay" in this context means before statutory payments so tax, employee NI and student loan deductions but will unfortunately be after the sick pay etc adjustments.

@dippydippy

That's the calculator I've been using but it wants my pay between 1st October and 30th November - I only have my October payslip so far, my November payslip will be affected by the SSP

Pop in your expected pay? Try it for both your full wage and also what your wage will be if you are off that period on full sick pay I calculated mine out at my expected pay before my qualifying weeks so I could suss it out and will be honest I knew any sick pay could affect so pushed myself through those qualifying weeks