Help !!! Maternity Pay Query

[Benji1998]

My manager has said she thinks I will be able to claim SMP as well as being entitled to company benefits.

Company Maternity Policy:
8 weeks full pay
18 weeks half pay
10 weeks SMP

It doesn’t seem right to me that I’d be able to claim SMP alongside receiving the above? Does anyone know?

Thanks

Yea so for me instead of being on a low amount say £700 towards the end of maternity , I’m coming out with about £1800 after tax

You claim it once your child is born. You can claim it whatever your salary is. If there's a higher earner in the household they may need to pay some or all of it back depending exactly how much they earn. The thresholds are about to change so I'm not sure what they will be

As announced at Spring Budget 2024, the High Income Child Benefit Charge threshold will increase to £60,000 from 6 April 2024.
The charge is tapered so if you, or your partner, earn between £60,000 and £80,000 it may still be worth your while financially to claim.
For instance, you’ll be charged 1% of your Child Benefit for every £200 of income that exceeds £60,000. If your income exceeds £80,000, the charge is equal to the amount of the Child Benefit payment.

Thanks @dementedpixie we are both under the £60k for now. Do I put in what I’m earning on maternity or will they ask for my previous salary? I’m going back 4 days a week but will be using holidays to cover those days so my part time salary doesn’t actually kick in until April 2025 and at that point I’ll be due an annual increase so no idea what I’ll be on but I could potentially fall in to the £60k bracket with my pro rata salary. I’m worried I put the wrong figures in and they ask me to pay money back basically!

You dont need to put in any figures to claim CB. If you find at the end of a tax year that you are above the threshold then the highest earner in the family would register for self assessment and declare the CB on there and hmrc will say how much needs to be paid back

Wow I did not know that, thank you @dementedpixie I just assumed you’d have to declare your salary.

can you claim universal credit whilst on smp?

Are you NHS? I got 8 weeks full pay (inclusive of SMP) and 18 weeks half pay plus SMP so it probably is correct.

I’m nhs and doing equal pay maternity

I think so
If its Maternity Allowance though they deduct your MA from the UC amount

This sounds much better rather than going from like £1700 down to £700!! I'll have a chat with my manager about it thank you!

Some employers will "top up" the SMP to the daily rate while others will pay it on top. If they will only top up and you're planning to use the unpaid bit of maternity then I can see why your manager might have suggested that.

Some of mine is "plus SMP" and some is "minus SMP" at different parts of the period. Company should have clear policy document somewhere.

It's a good idea to calculate it over the year though and work out your budget across the full period between that and anything you've set aside to make up for financial loss during the year. With most Enhanced Maternity Pay policies, you get a reasonable amount to get by at the start, and by the end it's scraping by if you haven't planned well... that's how they encourage you to come back sooner than you might otherwise want to!

I’m totally confused with my sta mat pay. For the first two months I received £2023 stapay plus £800 weekly pay. This month I received £845 sta pay plus £745 weekly pay. But given I’m only due to receive sta pay why do I keep getting weekly payments as well

You can’t actually think £736 a month isn’t really that bad? 😂 it’s shockingly bad!! And they tax you on it? So for a higher rate tax payer you’re ending up with about £436! That’s before NI as well.

With the way in which the world is now and some women earner more or becoming the higher earners of a partnership going from their salary to under £9k gross a year isn’t that bad for an income? It’s ridiculous.

I do get the need to save more if you are thinking about having a baby but for someone whose paying higher rate tax & unfortunately doesn’t have a work place maternity benefit, stat maternity ain’t even going to pay the mortgage never mind the bills/cost of living.

it really needs looking in to from a government point of year, but of course it won’t 🙄

*view not year 🤦🏼‍♀️

i Have been receiving overpayments which I’m not entitled to and now have to pay back £2000.
but they have now sent me a new pay schedule which I will receive 750 one month and 890 the next. Which doesn’t appear right either. I get get paid four weekly not monthly. So I think they are not adjusting it right and I will have a further overpayment. So stressful supposed to be enjoying mat leave instead stressing over payment schedule