Please help, Think payroll have f**ked up!

[miaboo]

Hi
I went on maternity leave at the beginning of this june (29 weeks)
I have worked for my employer since 2004 this is my 3rd pregnancy with them, I returned my 2nd time in september 2010,
I checked with my payroll the beginning of may if I was entitled to smp or would I have to claim MA and was told I was entitled to smp as normal.

so: I get paid my cheque on the 25th of each month (pay runs till the end of the month) I ring work today to see how much it is as I know the figures are in to be told the system will only pay me 1 weeks smp and there must be an overlap but hmrc arent answering the phone?? WTF am I going to do what does this mean? I go on holiday on sunday so this gives me no time to sort out ma if this is what i have to do, I specifically asked them what I was entitled to in plenty of time to sort things out money wise - HELP!!

Hi there do you earn more than £107 per week if you do than you are definately entitled to SMP which equates to 90% of your wage for the first 6 weeks followed by 33 weeks at either the standard SMP rate of £135.45 or 90% of your earnings - whichever is lower.

If you are not entitled to SMP your employer must fill in form SMP1 and give this to you which you then use to claim Mat Allowance.

If you have been off sick with a pregancy related illness before you officially started your mat leave then once you hit the date 4 weeks before your due date your leave and any mat pay starts from then.

I hope this helps. I would suggest if you still cant make no sense of what they have done that you speak to your employers payroll dept as they should be able to tell you exactly what is happening and why.

Good luck.

I work 20 hours per week and my wages were £155 per week, I did have time of sick with my children whilst back at work which is unpaid hence whilst I checked with payroll who's responsible for paying me as I didnt know if I had earnt enough ( I think I just did )
I was told that I had earnt enough and qualified for smp and even given amounts of what I would be given.
The payroll is an independant company who my employer pay to do wages based on hours/holiday figures sent to them
If I did have to claim MA it wasent a problem but this is why I checked before I left so that I had the time to apply and get it set up for June and they told me it was smp, if they only pay me the 1 week they say the system will let them what about the remaining weeks of June! I go away Sunday so have no time to do anything and my bills will go unpaid!

HMRC have nothing to do with it. If your employer have told the payroll people that you are entitled to SMP with effect from beginning of June, then that's what they should pay you.

You need to speak to whoever is in charge of the payroll system at your employer, whoever has authority over them and instructs them. HR I imagine.

It was the payroll company who I spoke to and her that told me it was smp so the employer has just gone along with what she said, and now shes gone to do wages reckons the 'system' will only allow one weeks pay?

You need to speak to whoever in your company has authority over the payroll company, not with them directly. Their internal system is not relevant and is not your concern. If you are entitled to SMP from beginning of June they need to do you a payslip reflecting that and your employer needs to pay you that.