Maternity pay/start date..is this correct?

[MidnightinMoscow]

Wonder if anyone can hep me with this.

I started my mat leave on the 17th Feb. This was 4 weeks before my due date as I had been off sick.

I have just been paid, £250 less than I usually do. My mat pay is 8 weeks full pay to begin with. Also my mat leave started on the 12th of Feb.

On calling payroll, I have been told that as Mat pay is worked out on a weekly basis, my pay will always be different. I do not recall this being the case on my last lot of mat leave 2 years ago (same employer).

Also, they have told me the earlier start date of my mat leave is due to "HRMC rules". However, they could not comment or explain what these rules were!

I work for the NHS so the polices/guidelines are pretty clear and standard. However, getting through to the right person who knows the correct information is not easy.

Has anyone had anything similar?

HMRC minimum SMP is 90% of your pay or SMP for the first 6 weeks (whichever is higher) then SMP for the remainder of the 39 weeks. see here for overview

If you are sick within a few weeks of the baby being born it can trigger the early start of Maternity Leave - from the direct.gov website
SMP if you are off work because of your pregnancy
The start of your SMP will change if you are off work because of your pregnancy, either at the start of or in the four weeks before the week in which your baby is due. If this happens, SMP will start from the day following the first complete day you are off work for a pregnancy related reason in this four week period.

hope this helps a little

I think the reason why they started your mat leave on 12th Feb rather than 17th could be because it used to be the case that employers could only pay full weeks of SMP - this has now changed, so you can start mat leave on any day of the week. It maybe that your payroll dept haven't quite caught up with the change in legislation - should be on HMRC or direct.gov.uk if you want to find a link to show them; shouldn't be too hard to find though. Probably just an oversight on their part. Also, SMP is paid weekly, so there will probably be changes from month to month.

Thank you both for your information.

I'll have a look at the HRMC website, am in the newborn haze of sleeplessness at the moment!

Also, on my payslip I have been paid OMP rather than SMP...but yet I have long length of service etc...

Think I am too tired to think straight.

Occupational maternity pay - they are paying you more than statutory. They have started it early as you were off sick and ML kicks in at 36 weeks if this is the case.

You could ask for your schedule of payments. I was surprised not to receive a standard average amount over my ML and when I asked they sent a spreadsheet which had been calculated using the dark arts that payroll use, but apparently added up to the correct amount.
I'm actually 7 months into my leave and still haven't had the energy or understanding to check its accuracy though!

London, yes that's what I thought as that's the Trust policy too. However, I can't work out why that have started it at just over 35 weeks, even though my boss has stipulated 36 weeks.

China I know what you mean, I have asked for a print out of payment but in true NHS style I am sure it will be so complex that I'll give up.

It's odd though because when I had mat leave with DC1 my pay was never different month to month.