Company’s maternity pay policy.

[Firsttimetrier]

I hope I’m posting in the right place but wondered if someone could help me understand my company’s mat pay policy, as I don’t want to ask just yet as I’m awaiting for my scan to announce my pregnancy.

So my company policy says the following:

4 months pay of your average weekly earnings (inclusive of SMP).
23 weeks SMP
13 weeks unpaid

The wording is confusing to me but I’m guessing this means 4 months full pay, 5 months stat mat pay, 3 months completely unpaid.

If so, for the 3 months, can I claim SMP?

No. The last 3 months are always unpaid.

I would read this as:

4 months - full pay
23 weeks - SMP only
13 weeks - zero

SMP only covers 9 months so if you're planning a year off the last 3 months are totally unpaid usually.

Yes - the last 13 weeks is completely unpaid. As in - no pay. You can claim SMP for 39 weeks in total, 4 months of which your company enhances to full pay.

In practice lots of women return to work when pay stops. Don't forget that your annual leave, and bank holiday leave (can be a bit of a grey area) continues to accrue whilst you are on Maternity Leave, so a lot of women take that as a block upon their return.

Yep your working out is correct, but you can't claim anything on the last three months. SMP is only payable for 9 months which will start from the start of your mat pay (your company are topping it up to your full salary).

I agree. A lot of people people don't take the last three months as it's unpaid.

Thank you all!

That’s what I thought and in-line with what me and my husband will budget for.

I really wish the UK had the Swedish mentality of maternity leave, but I guess that will never happen.

As others have said the last three months are unpaid. Some employers will average out the pay over the course of 52 weeks if you have an enhanced package so this may be something you want to ask about if you’re taking the full time off.

Great, that’s good to know @CPDubs! Is there anything else that I should ask? Sorry, this is my first pregnancy, so no idea of what to expect and how things work.

My scan is on Tuesday and I’m going to speak to my manager on Thursday.
I really, really hope everything is positive and I won’t need it, but my company has a miscarriage policy too where they offer a months full pay, so I’m happy to talk to my manager before the combined test results come back.

@Firsttimetrier just wanted to say hi as a fellow Swede in the UK (due in August!) 👋

Hello @Juno231 unfortunately, I’m not Swedish but I am due in August too! I’ve always admired the Swedish culture towards maternity and paternity and I really think it should be embraced by more countries.

@Firsttimetrier England is quite good compared to other places, America is absolutely awful

Hey, just a reminder that you can claim universal credit on top of your SMP weeks and your unpaid weeks if your partners income allows. I'm just about to finish my 4th month of full pay (I have a 13 week old daughter) and will claim universal credit on top of maternity pay. Also child benefit it £21 a week and everyone is entitled to that unless you are a very high earner and it doesn't make sense due to tax 😊

Some places will allow you to average the non-SMP element over 12 months, I know the NHS do. So I get less pay in the early months of Maternity Leave but I am paid something every month for a year. The SMP can’t be changed so there is still a drop after 9 months but it’s not zero.

That's a very generous maternity pay policy.

If I were you I would be starting saving now putting some percentage of take-home pay aside every month so that you get used to living on less than your full pay, and keep that savings going throughout the fully-paid months 1-4. Choose that level of savings correctly and you can then draw it down a little during months 5-9 and much more heavily in months 10-12 and could theoretically spread all your pay over the next 20 months or so evenly so that you have no difficult months of significantly less money than usual.

Just be aware your first 4 months are average pay based on your earnings over a set period. So if your work is variable it won't necessarily be 'full pay' i.e. you earn the same amount the week before you go on maternity leave as your first week.

E.g. if you get a pay rise on 1st April and go on maternity on 1st May, your maternity pay will be based on your earnings in Feb not April. There are specific qualifying periods.

@Firsttimetrier

Thank you all!

That’s what I thought and in-line with what me and my husband will budget for.

I really wish the UK had the Swedish mentality of maternity leave, but I guess that will never happen.

When I was pregnant in 1997 it was still only 28 weeks max and SMP was quite short So, although not at Nordic model it is a lot better than it was until quite recently