question about Maternity Allowance

[Unwelcome]

When Picking your 13 weeks out of the test period, do you use the dates you actually worked or your "pay date"?

The ones you actually worked.

right so when I send my timesheets, I am not sending the time sheet dated my chosen week?

I would send both if there is any confusion.

wont they look at the pay dates and think they dont correspond to the weeks I've chosen if I do it by actual work rather than pay date?

the dates I worked are not on the main payslip sheets and can be anything from a week to 3 weeks before the pay date?

cherry choc I dont work every week, so for some weeks its 0 and other weeks its hundreds. I need to be sure I am sending them the right payslips so no 0s are calculated into my average

(or rather that I write down the right 13 weeks on the form that correspond to my payslips)

see, some weeks where I got paid £££s I didnt actually work and some weeks were I worked I didnt get paid anything

You write the weeks down that correspond to the periods you were being paid for.

For example, your January payslip covers weeks commencing

28/12
04/01
11/01
18/01
25/01

because any one day in a week counts for the week, and the date you write down has to fall on a sunday.

So if you were paid £1000 on 31st January, but you worked in December to earn that £1000, you write down the dates in December that you worked those hours.

You don't need to send in time sheets. You could work 1 hour per week at a rate of £1000 ph, and it would still count. What matters is your average pay on your best 13 weeks in the test period.

sorry Lou if I'm reading your posts wrong, but your first post I read it that you write down the weeks you actually worked (even if you didnt get paid that week, and just submit the corresponding payslip even if it doesnt have that date on it)

but in your second post it sounds to me like you're saying you put down weeks where you actually got PAID????

No, unwelcome, what I am saying is that you don't need to prove how many hours work you did for your money, or whatever.

You simply write down the weeks that your payslips relate to, in terms of when you earned the money, not when you were paid.

For someone that was paid weekly, they might be paid on a Friday, so they would write down e.g. 01/02/09, but their payslip would be dated 06/02/09. For someone paid monthly, they would write down 01/02/09, but their payslip would be dated 28/02/09.

So a weekly paid individual would submit 13 payslips, whilst a 4-weekly paid one would submit 4 pyslips, and a monthly paid one might only submit 3 payslips.

What if you don't have timesheets?

I freelance, and bill monthly via an invoice with detailed breakdown of what days I worked at home, and on what case.

Usually paid the following month, though sometimes there has been a backlog and have had 3 months worth of money via one cheque and one "payslip" which refers to my own invoice reference (i.e. Invoice No. 23 might refer to work done in January 2009 and would have 6 entries over the course of the month and be to the value of £800 or 20 hours).

Would I look at the individual invoices submitted for payment, working out how much I earned in a week dependent on the dates I worked?

Or would I Look at the pay slip which says that in January I earned £800 and that that equates to 5 weeks and £160 per week? And then find another 8 weeks to reference?

Eeek. No worries if you can't help - I can always ring up the people and ask what to do and it is a bit of a way off at the moment. Have already identified 2 particularly "useful" months, though am sure can find lucrative weeks if I cherry pick severely (tend to do a lot of hours in a rush according to deadlines all at once).

I understand that it is about earnings and not hours worked.

What concerns me is that you write down the weeks you want them to count, and then send the corresponding payslip to prove how much you were paid. But on my payslip it doesnt say when the money was earned. And how long after the shifts I get paid varies by up to 3 weeks. So how will they conclude that the payslips I send prove anything about the weeks which I have written on the form? They wont even be able to match them up?

Well on the form you state your employer, and how often you are paid. So they know that if you ticked the 'four weekly' box, then your payslip relates to four weeks' worth of work.

Your Mat Allowance is calculated on your average, so if you submit a payslip with £400 of pay for four weeks, your average is £100 per week, regardless of whether it is actually one week of £400 followed by 3 weeks of £0.

I get paid weekly, but anything from 1 to 3 weeks after doing the work. The 13 weeks I've chosen on the form do not match the paydates on the corresponding payslips and the time lapse varies so how will they match them up?

I would phone for advice. I am sure that you could write a covering note giving a breakdown of which weeks relate to which pay.

"I am sure that you could write a covering note giving a breakdown of which weeks relate to which pay"

dur! a simple and glaringly obvious solution that I should have managed all on my own.

Can I pleed baby brain?

No problem - I had to draw a great big balloon around half my dates to explain that there were no payslips, and my earnings were £0, because I was on unpaid Mat leave.

I have a similar problem but I get paid monthly so if they averaged a week's pay from my monthly payslips I would really lose out, like you some weeks are £0 some up to £150.

I'm going to send in my timesheets (signed by my manager) to show which weeks I want to claim for and a covering letter explaining why they don't seem to corresspond to the payslips in any meaningful way!

I also have a second job to include, where I don't get payslips but that's where my brain starts to hurt!!

I agree, just make it as clear as poss with whatever evidence you have and put in a covering letter.