How does maternity pay work?

[Needadoughnut]

I'll be missing out of MP just by 20 days. They're a small and friendly company with no proper HR department. I think if I ask for an exception they might be kind enough to give it, however DP thinks I should just lie... But surely HRMC would know?

Do you mean enhanced pay or statutory? You can't lie as your due date will be on your MatB1 form

Can you claim MA? There's very little difference between the two. Then if you think they would, you could ask your employer to offer an enhancement.

What do you mean by lie? Your mw won't put a due date 3 weeks on!

My DPs logic is that they won't ask for it... I was in hospital and they didn't ask to see any sort of documentation they were just happy to oblige. Their enhanced pay is not even that great it only covers 12 weeks

They will almost certainly ask for your MATB1 when it comes to determining pay and your midwife is not going to put a date 3 weeks out on it. You can ask but I also don't see them giving you pay when you're 3 weeks short of being eligible just to be nice, because they'd set a precedent and potentially have to do it for everyone, or else be looking at a discrimination charge.

If they don't ask for your MATB1 and you just lie, well, say goodbye to your job if they find out and they might be able to make a claim against the money too.

If they are a small employer then they may be relying on being able to claim SMP (92%) back from the government for their pregnant employees which they won't be able to do for you.

When you were in hospital how long were you off for? More than 5 days?

MatB1 will be required as its for maternity pay purposes. They can't claim money back if they don't have it. It's totally different to your hospital stay

They're not small in terms of profit... They make millions, but they just don't need that many employees and they're super laid back. No I was only there for a couple of days but my previous employer always wanted proof.

They have to receive your matb1 to trigger maternity leave dates, even if you are not eligible for smp.

You're clearly trying to talk yourself into this being 1) doable and 2) OK. It's neither, but don't let that stop you. The fact that they took your word for a short hospital stay (which lots of employers would; many employers have an adult to adult culture where the default is to trust people and treat them like grownups) does NOT mean that they won't ask for the critical piece of paperwork that is your MATB1.

I'm sorry you're just outside the eligibility window, but that's life. It doesn't mean you can lie your way into it.

No matter how much they turnover they will want to offset your SMP against the NI they pay, if they pay less 45K a year in NI they may even be able to claim 103%. To do all of this they need your MATB1 which as others have said your midwife will fill in. Payroll will make sure they obtain this. I run. Small friendly company, but when it comes to HMRC I make sure I have all the correct documents.

The one who said was easy was my DP! I thought they'd figure it out regardless. I do plan to have a chat and hopefully they'll make an exception. I'm already more productive than my peers who have been here for longer so for all terms and purposes I'm cheap labour :) Their revenue is in the millions so I doubt they'd get any back. I'm also their first employee on ML/P. They're not that new but it's mostly men and the average age of most women here is 22 (just out of uni).

As Lonecat said claiming it back is nothing to do with profit or turnover but to do with how many employees/ the size of their wage bill (specifically NI contributions)

They pay at least 900k in wages, so would think it's above the threshold.

They can still claim back 92% of the SMP they pay out