Maternity Pay Question

[Whatevertheweather]

Hello,

Wonder if anyone can help. My baby is due early October and I am lucky enought that my company (large retail bank) pay 12 weeks full pay before SMP kicks in. I have known for some time that I have a promotion which commences 1st July - this promotion comes with a 10k payrise which will be reflected from 1st July.

HR have just told me that the 12 weeks full pay will be calculated based on my payslip pay for the months of May and June which would be my old salary (35k) and that basically its tough that my actual salary by the time I go on maternity leave will be 10k higher than that (45k)

Does this sound right/fair? I know there has to be a formula but surely instances of promotion/payrise ought to be taken in to account? Or is it a case of as they pay above statutory maternity pay its tough.

I know i'm really lucky to have had the payrise and to have 12wks pay instead of 6wks but this has really thrown me as all my calculations for maternity leave have been based on a 45k salary so to find that actually i'll be down by £1500 ish over the 12 weeks is a big worry and will probably mean I have to go back after 4 months instead of 6 months

It's up to them how they calculate their company maternity pay unfortunately. It sounds like they use the same reference period as is used for SMP - roughly weeks 18-25 of your pregnancy. If the policy is silent on what salary dates they use, I think it would be difficult to argue that defaulting to the statutory dates was somehow inappropriate.

BUT they must pay at least SMP, and due to a weird case called Alabaster, payrises get backdated for SMP. So, what you'll probably be entitled to is 6 weeks at 90% new salary (since that looks like it will be more than 100% of your old salary) and then six weeks at 100% of old salary

Thank you Ribenaberry I appreciate you taking the time to reply. I thought there wouldn't be much I could do. It's just seems strange that I'll get paid at 45k July,august,September but then drop back to 35k for Oct-Dec.

Also I get a company car as of July 1st and they've already confirmed I can keep that whilst I'm off so it's like some benefits are based on my old job and some on my new. Reading the headline - 'you are entitled to 12 weeks maternity pay at 100% of your salary' I just assumed it would be at my new salary but then I cam across a paragraph regarding 'how calculate your gross weekly wage'

The car etc is because they take the benefits as at the time you go on ML and cannot remove them but pay (for the 90% SMP calculation it would be the same) is based on specific weeks' earnings earlier in pregnancy. It can work the other way so if you got paid a bonus during the qualifying period you could get more than 100%. However discretionary schemes are a bonus, many companies still only pay the Statutory amount.

Thank you Lizs - I know it's a good scheme definately not complaining. With dd I just got the 6wks at 90% pay. I'm just sad as I had calculated with my new salary I would be able afford to take 6 months off now I think it will be a push to manage 5 months. To make matters worse I am now in 'training' for my new role in May and June so not able to earn a bonus as I would have done usually therefore these will be the lowest paid 2 months I've had in the 3yrs I've been there and it's these months my maternity pay will be based on. Gutted.

Actually if it's occupational maternity pay (and I'm thinking out loud really) and it says 100% of salary, well that should be your salary at your maternity leave date unless they have added specific criteria about qualifying weeks. Your salary is your salary irrelevant of when you started receiving it. Would they pay someone who has moved to a less well paid position their previous salary? I don't think that's likely.

Usually in OMP schemes the employer claims the SMP then pays the difference to make up the salary so calculations of qualifying weeks etc are the employer's concern but not the OP's.

Oooh Katiemiddleton you've given me some hope I have requested they look into it and come back to me as the lady I was speaking to just seemed to quote what was written which was as I said above.

To be honest she seemed as surprised as I was that I'd been promoted whilst pregnant and I'm pretty sure it's not something she had ever come across. If it didn't equate to much I would just leave it but I think the difference will be £500-£600 difference after tax which will dramatically affect how long I can have off

A woman in HR was surprised a pregnant person was given a promotion?! Jeeez. If she's that ignorant about equality then she's probably got the maternity pay bit wrong too.

Good luck sorting it out