Can you do unpaid voluntary work on SMP

[iamloading]

Hi all,
Hoping for some urgent advice (been on hold to work and pensions for 40 mins so far!)
I am on mat leave at the moment receiving SMP but have been doing a bit of unpaid voluntary work here and there.
Anyway I received a threatening letter from my (horrible) company today saying that I will need to pay back the whole of my SMP as I worked elsewhere. Is this the case, I simply didn't realise that a bit of volunteering would have this affect!
Thanks

”If the contract doesn't prevent it then they are wrong to demand the SMP is paid back.”

That’s just plain wrong. What’s in a contract of employment is entirely irrelevant when it comes to determining whether or not someone is entitled to SMP.

No not at all. The employer is saying she may have to repay. That is based in the terms of contract.

That’s just plain wrong. What’s in a contract of employment is entirely irrelevant when it comes to determining whether or not someone is entitled to SMP.

If the contract of employment is broken it is very relevant.

@italiancortado Please don't give out misleading information if you're not 100% sure it's right. In the UK, women are eligible for SMP based on certain standard eligibility criteria (e.g. you have to have earned at least a certain amount during your qualifying weeks, and other criteria). Your employer can't put additional stipulations on your eligibility for SMP. However they can for an additional maternity pay they choose to pay.

OP, you are entitled to your SMP. Your employer isn't paying it, HMRC is, and that's why you pay your national insurance contributions. I know it's not loads of money but please make sure you take what you're entitled to!

In the UK, women are eligible for SMP based on certain standard eligibility criteria (e.g. you have to have earned at least a certain amount during your qualifying weeks, and other criteria).

That's correct. But if you work you lose it. Of your contract of employment allows working for other employers then that's fine, but if it stipulates you can't, then you are deemed as 'working' and would lose the SMP.

Not going to argue any more with you but if love to know who gave you that misinformation. You can be self employed with a different employer to that which is paying you SMP. I know because I'm currently doing it and researched it to ensure it was allowed.

*I'd not if

Italian is right

Yes winter you can be, but only if the contract allows.

Misinformation?

”Of your contract of employment allows working for other employers then that's fine”

It really isn’t!

”If the contract of employment is broken it is very relevant.”

How? If a woman meets the two criteria for SMP and then leaves her job entirely, therefore the contract is broken, she is still entitled to SMP ( unless and until she starts working for someone else).

SMP is a statutory payment (clue is in the name), and the terms and conditions of receiving it are not determined by the employer in any way.

OP please don’t let them not pay you SMP, it doesn’t matter if you plan to leave. Going back to work isn’t and can’t be a requirement of SMP. You should get your full entitlement.
Furthermore voluntary ‘work’ isn’t work in the legal sense since you are neither employed nor self employed. Unless you were sharing company secrets with a rival unpaid I think they are on seriously dodgy ground. Is there any way they could have mistakenly thought you were being employed in this role? It’s still shoddy behaviour since simply asking you if you were employed by x as someone had seen you ‘working’ there would have been sufficient to get the correct information. Sending threatening letters to someone on Mat leave is just poor practice even if you think you had grounds, which nothing you’ve said suggests they do.

I agree you should fight it OP. It’s a shame the technical guide doesn’t give a specific exemption for voluntary work like it does for self-employed work, and that it doesn’t specify that your entitlement ends if you start paid work for another employer rather than just “work”.

But I would say the intention of the SMP rules is that paid employment is the issue.

Because the rules say start work for “another employer”, you could argue that the voluntary organisation aren’t another employer because they’re not employing you.

It might also be worth giving the HMRC helpline a ring for guidance on the position regarding voluntary work.

Just got home. So after 50 mins on hold I got through to the department of work and pensions and they confirmed that doing unpaid work has no affect on SMP! Thank goodness. I think I will still have a battle on my hands because of how nasty this character is but at least I know I'm in the right. I asked if it was written down anywhere and they said no which is annoying!

Yikes OP be careful there’s a fair amount of crap on here!

I would say voluntary work is fine, if you start working for another employer after the baby is born then your SMP stops. You don’t have to repay it all back though!

I would write to your employer and advise that they are mistaken and that as you have not commenced work for another employer that their liability to pay SMP continues.

Because the rules say start work for “another employer”, you could argue that the voluntary organisation aren’t another employer because they’re not employing you.

Agreed