nett maternity pay headache

[Marzipan23]

hello,
I'm hoping someone can help with this because my finance deparment cant get to the numbers.
going on mat leave 6th july, I receive SMP which I understand is 6 weeks at 90% and then 33 weeks at £184
I have asked them to work out my nett payments so I can budget but they cant seem to do this, I know tax is split across the year on the assumption you will be earning the same amount throughout the year.
How do I work out the nett amount?

Add it all up and then if you're over the 12,570 personal allowance threshold you'll pay 20% tax and 8% NI. Unlikely you'll hit the 40/45% brackets unless you have other income?

There are plenty of income/take-home pay calculators online if you know the annual total.

Tax isn't split across the year. If your monthly pay goes down, so does your tax.

It will depend on lots of factors: your tax code, any underpayments, pension contributions, any payrolled benefits etc. 6th of July is a Saturday, is that correct that it's your first day of mat leave or do you mean the Monday? It's normally calculated and paid in full weeks so if a week ends in the following month it's often paid the following month too.

This is incorrect. The NI threshold is lower than the personal allowance. NI is also not cumulative so the number of weeks in a month will have an effect if her mat pay is paid based on full weeks, and the 90% for 6 weeks will obviously be higher.

yes I mean the monday, well spotted! I have the sat in my head as first day of freedom!

So for example where I work you'd have one full week of pay (as you're working) then 3 weeks mat pay, the final week of the month ends in August so that full week wouldn't be paid in July. Your employer or payroll provider will be able to get you a gross pay breakdown but things can change with net pay depending on your specific circumstances so they won't hold themselves to providing a net pay calculation I expect. If you get the gross per month (so we can see how they've split the mat pay weeks over each calendar month) it'll be easier to calculate the net as a rough amount. But you'd also need to know your pension contributions too.

thank you this is so helpful, I did ask for the monthly breakdown and they havent given it to me so i'll push again and then I think I should be able to work it out myself!

My payroll provider can only get one from the first month of mat leave so maybe next month you'll have more luck?

ah okay! maybe this is the same with my work, it felt more like reluctance but from what you've said I might be wrong!

Any payroll software can run the numbers so just keep pushing for it :)

Hi @FriendlyNeighbourhoodAccountant are you sure about the NI threshold being lower than tax? All the info I've found suggests it's the same.

See below re: threshold changing in 2022

On an annual basis yes but NI is calculated monthly, not annually, so for the period OP has 90% pay she will pay NI, whereas if you earned under the tax threshold over the year you'd get a rebate. This isn't the same for NI so it's not as easy as just taking the annual allowance per the previous post. For example if I earned 2k in month 1 I'd pay NI and would not be due a rebate if I then earned nothing the rest of the year.

You're right about the rates though, I don't keep up to date with them now that I don't do payroll.

Thanks, that's helpful.