Maternity leave and pay.

[Mayabump]

I am employed as a carer by an elderly lady with ms, her accountant has told me that because I do not pay national insurance I cannot claim maternity pay. I called the maternity benefit help line and they have told me I am entitled to 39 weeks paid leave. So my questions are..... If I manage to claim pay through work will she have to pay as she is on nothing but benefits or will she get help to pay this? Or will I have to go through the job centre to claim? I don't want to take it off her if she's not gonna get help to pay it as she doesn't get much and will have to pay me and another carer to cover. Please help, it's stressing me out big time!

Xxx

if you are an employee & earn more (on average) than £109 per week you are entitled to smp. you need to make sure you make your claim in time. Your employer has not choice on this (but should be able to recover the cost of your smp).

I don't think she can afford to...

xx

She'll get the money back. If she has an accountant (who presumably gets paid himself), he may sort this out...

Yep it will be claimed back from government.

Are you sure?

xx

If you earn little enough not to pay NI then you probably don't qualify for SMP, but you would qualify for Maternity Allowance which is claimed like a benefit through the job centre - I think you have to be earning above £30 a week for MA.

If you are entitled to SMP, your boss will get 104% of it back through the government, but she would owe you for holiday pay while you are off.

I earn £114 a week

xx

I rang the maternity allowance helpline number earlier and was told I can claim SMP even though I don't pay NI

xx

Sounds like you should get SMP then. Check here www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/pay

Why don't you pay NI?

You don't start paying until you earn £149 a week www.gov.uk/national-insurance/overview

Sorry - stupid question. You are above the LEL but below the PT. That means you don't pay NI but do qualify for benefits including SMP. Unless she employs a lot of people your employer will be able to claim it all back from the government plus a little bit extra.

There are 4 carers (including myself) and an accountant. As far as I'm aware that's it.

xx

I work pt and don't pay NI as i dont earn enough. I am currently on ML, i get SMP

Her accountant is completely incompetent.

As long as you meet the earnings and service requirements for SMP, you are entitled to it. She will be able to claim more than 100% back, and may even be able to get HMRC to pay her it upfront. I am employed by my own company and was entitled to SMP from myself when I had DS2. My accountant arranged for HMRC to pay the company my SMP payments upfront.