OMG, my company are trying to claw back all of my maternity pay!

[redclover79]

I was supposed to be paid on friday but checked my bank balance and no money had gone into my account. Spoke to work immediately who said I'd have to wait until today for someone who deals with wages to contact me. Rang work just now to see what was happening, they've looked at my wageslip and the company have sent me a debit for £3000, which is almost a years wages, and without looking at it myself sounds like the whole amount I was paid on maternity leave.
Can they do this? They calculated it correctly before I left (I had to do most of the legwork myself so I'm pretty confident there were no errors). I'm panicking now as I just don't have that kind of money and I've bills to pay, what do I do? I'm waiting for them to ring me back but they are so rubbish at this kind of thing I expect I will be told half truths as usual.
Hope someone can help?!

bumping for you.

Don't really know the answer, but surely if you went back to work after your maternity leave, they can't do that?

I would call my local CAB and look on the dft website

Did you have anything in your contract to state that you had to return to work for any length of time after maternity pay? Some company's do that but not if you're getting SMP they can't (I don't think)

Did you leave at the end of your maternity leave? In which case it will probably say in your contract that they are entitled to claim back anything over SMP (I think, and also after anything in lieu of annual leave etc).

They have most definately cocked up. Even if they are entitled to it back, they can't just take it willy-nilly. Is there anyway you can go in and get it sorted rather then sitting there waiting for a call?

If you have a contract, check it firstly. If you do owe them anything, then negotiate a fair and reasonable repayment plan. This is how most companies would do it.

Oh, and its probably worth putting a call in to your bank if you have any Direct Debits or standing orders - you don't want to get stung for their charges on top too. Good luck.

Hi

Not sure if the link will work. Basically says if it's 'Company enhanced maternity pay' then is says you only have to repay if it was agreed beforehand.

www.worksmart.org.uk/rights/do_i_have_to_repay_my_maternity

Agree that maternity pay can be reclaimed if you do not go back to work for a minimum of 3 months usually, however it should not be reclaimed all at onc if there has been some kind of misunderstanding.

thanks everyone, I've gone back and followed all the rules and regs. would go in in person but admin/personnel are pretty inept (they were supposed to leave a message for teh relevant person to call me this morning, I ended up ringing and no one had bothered to pass teh message on again), and I've got to get ds1 fed and watered and packed off to nursery for the afternoon... not that it would make any difference, they're already trying to buckpass to head office... I'm so pissed off, I went through enough stress to get a straight answer out of them as to whether I was entitled to mat pay last year. I had to spell it out to the 'maternity officer' how to work out if I was entitled last year (they kept telling me they couldn't work it out til the start of the tax year after I'd gone on leave). And I'm bloody pregnant atm, I really could do without the stress caused by the complete indifference of everyone I speak to at the company! they don't even care that I have bills to pay...

just had a thought, I'm only back for just over 2 months before i go on mat leave again! I'm not leaving but I'm not going to be paid by the company. Last time i was on mat leave i left the company but they werent entitled to reclaim my pay, as I understood it this time they could only reclaim my 'enhanced' benefits which amounted to nothing as i don't earn enough... surely they are not entitled to reclaim every penny they've paid me?! I'm going to dig out my contract and have a look...

looked through the maternity policy, the only mention of paying back money if you don't go back for 3 months after leave is that I will have to pay back the enhanced pay of 90% of my wage at the start of mat leave. I am exept because i didn't earn enough and got 90% throughout mat leave. however, information re. benefit repayment if you leave is conspicuous in it's absence...

If you were entitled to SMP, and that's all you got, then they can't have it. In fact, they don't even give you that, they claim it back from Revenue & Customs.

Be sure what type of payment you've had.

Sounds dodgy you won't get mat pay this time - maternity leave counts as qualifying service, ime.

Once you've qualified for SMP (by earning enough in the qualifying week, which is about half way through your pregnancy as I recall), you could then leave the company and they still have to pay your SMP. I think that's right.

Bit confused with what you're saying....did they pay you something over and above SMP? and is it just this they have debited? They can't take back your SMP (and can & should have reclaimed this anyway from Inland Rev).

There are rules about how much can be deducted at once if an error has been made...but these may not apply if they are reclaiming enhanced maternity pay which you are no longer entitled too - may depend on terms of agreement.

Without knowing exactly what your contract says, and what their explanation is, it's hard to add anything useful - sorry!

Agree that CAB may be well-placed to advise if need be, or union if you have one...

You qualify for SMP based on your earnings in the qualifying period (which is an 8 week period somewhere between 3 and 5th month depending on when you get paid/if you get paid weekly/monthly etc).

Your previous maternity leave does count as continuous service but if you actually left the company while on maternity leave you would have broken your service.

I'm not convinced that you are still entitled to SMP if you actually leave the company while on maternity leave (but I may be wrong). Did they keep paying you after you left? Why did you leave btw?

Need to dash off to a scan but there's definitely a link on the Inland Revenue website to 'what if you think your employer has calculated your SMP wrong' (or something) - if you search around that you should get some advice.

As a first step though you need the company to confirm exactly why they have clawed it back and for what period it covers (clearly easier said than done) and take it from there.

Good luck.

sorry for the confusion - i got the bare minimum, bog standard smp. i received 90% of my pay throughout because i don't earn enough to get the £112 a week.
no biggy - i thought it wasnt them that paid me as such, as far as I knew my company (any company) claims back the basic from the govt. anything over and above that comes from them... got to go drop ds1 at nursery now but will be back shortly...

As long as you were employed then they have no right to claw back any SMP. I think the sticking point may be whether they are trying to claim back SMP from after you left the company.

If they carried on paying you SMP after you left the company and if you weren't entitled to SMP after leaving the company then the inland revenue would have refused to reimburse them for the SMP. Two big if's though to get checked out!

If you received only SMP the6y can't claim it back at all. You could even leave employment before starting maternity leave, as long as you have met the conditions to receive it you get it. Here. You must be employed by the same employer 26 weeks into 15th week before you are due and earn more than £87 a week. That's it.

If you just received SMP - 6 weeks at 90% pay and the time after at £112 or whatever leave amount you get because you didn't owe that then that is not repayable even if you decide not to come back.

Did they pay you for a longer period than SMP is payable perhaps? It sounds like you need to speak to someone at head office who will urgently repay the money - tell them in writing on a fax so they don't deny the call that you have bills to pay and cannot understand why it is being repaid. Are you going back to work with them before this new baby is born?

thanks everyone, I actually started back at the beginning of january and am planning to go back after the next mat leave. got to do ds2 some lunch then I'm going to ring them and see what's happening...

company have just phoned me, the person they need to speak to at head office isn't available so they will get back to me later today. I'm going to find head office's number and give them a ring myself...

apparently it's a system error, but I still have to wait til tomorrow to find out what's happening... I'm so pissed off with the way this has been handled I'm thinking about complaining but I'm not sure it's worth the effort...

system error my arse

You should complain, if it is 'the system' they need to sort 'the system' out.

well I reckon for 'system error' read 'dappy payroll person'...

At least they are acknowledging it's an error, rather than it being deliberate.

Hope you get it sorted in the morning.

Hi, hope you have it all sorted out now. Would also recommend complaining - while even the most diligent payroll person isn't beyond making the odd mistake they do seem to have dealt with your query in a particularly useless way. The payroll department at my old company were useless and had no comprehension of the consequences of making mistakes with people's wages.

Make sure you dont incur any bank charges etc because of the mistake - you really should claim that back.

quick update: money got paid into my account yesterday so at least I don't have to panic about that. I'm just doing my complaint letter now, the no holding back version, before I send in the proper one! thanks for everyone's help!