maternity pay - totally lost!

[Marzipan23]

currently trying to negotiate maternity pay with work as workplace has no maternity pay in place (20 weeks pregnant, have discussed previously pre pregnancy and been knocked back) and really struggling to find an answer to a few questions online, desperate for some help please!
*is company maternity paid on top of SMP or instead of? so say if they offer me a maternity package, would there be a govornment contribution at all either to me or my employer

• if I got 6 months of mat pay would I get smp for the remainder of my leave? *will I pay tax and national insurance on smp or do you get the full amount?

thanks so much!

Are you expecting them to give you additional mat pay when it’s not part of your contract ?
Good luck with that

This is a really good resource https://maternityaction.org.uk/advice/maternity-pay-questions/
You can call Maternity Action for advice. They're fab. They really helped me. Good luck.

SMP is all that the company need to offer you and that is:

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is paid for up to 39 weeks. You get:
• 90% of your average weekly earnings (before tax) for the first 6 weeks
• £184.03 or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for the next 33 weeks
SMP is paid in the same way as your wages (for example monthly or weekly). Tax and National Insurance will be deducted.

www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/eligibility

Companies can choose to top that up, so they may decide to add an extra 10% so the first 6 weeks is 100%, or to top up so that the following 6 weeks are also 90% so that you have 12 weeks at 90%.

However top ups are optional. If your company has no enhanced pay in place then you should be planning for the SMP only.

If you get enhanced mat pay then your employer basically tops up the SMP. So I just started my maternity leave, I get 6 months full pay, so for those 6 months my payslips will show:

• SMP £x
• Employer contribution £x

Adding up to my usual wage. Your employer claims the SMP amount.

You can only receive SMP for 39 weeks and it legally has to start from the date your baby is born. So after your 6 months you’d get another 13 weeks SMP which is £184 per week.

You still pay tax even when only receiving SMP, you do not get to keep the full amount.

I have to admit though if you’re 20 weeks and there is nothing about enhanced maternity in your contract, it’s very unlikely to be agreed now.

There is also an employers guide to SMP which explains reclaiming the money www.gov.uk/employers-maternity-pay-leave

worth asking if you can have equal pay maternity instead -

thanks everyone this is really helpful! ...although the comments saying its unlikely are not so helpful, I am aware i'm in a tough spot negotiation wise but as I said I have tried previously and I have to try again, nothing to lose and lots to gain!

I didnt realise you paid tax on SMP!!! with the amount you actually get that is criminal!

can you advise what you mean by this?

Equal pay maternity is just where they spread your SMP amount equally across the months you have off, rather than receiving 90% for 6 weeks and then £184 per week.

I didnt know you could do that, thats really interesting thank you

They add all your work wages to all the statutory pay to make it one lump sum and divide However long you want off

Your employer can reclaim all or most of the SMP payment back from HMRC. Anything they choose to top up obviously they need to cover themselves