Enhanced Maternity Pay

[AmieB]

Hi all, hoping someone can shed some light. Trying to forecast what sort of income I’ll have over maternity leave and it’s confusing the hell out of me.
ive been told I’ll be entitled to the ‘enhanced maternity pay’ through my employer which as per their policy document is as follows :

first 8 weeks full pay
18 weeks @ 60% of normal pay
13 weeks SMP
13 weeks unpaid
totalling 52 weeks

however I only work part time so 60% of my normal wage is LESS than what SMP would be, so could someone confirm how this works?
it does say it’s ’inclusive of SMP’ but surely I can’t get both cos I’d then be getting more than I usually would when I’m at work 🤣🤣

if anyone can break it down into simple terms for me that would be bloody fab, baby brain is in full swing 😀
thank you x

Do you earn enough to be eligible for SMP?

I mean I hope so?! I earn around £1,055 per month? Xx

Yeah just checked and the minimum needed is £125 per week which is £500 per month xx

From gov website
Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)
SMP for eligible employees can be paid for up to 39 weeks, usually as follows:

the first 6 weeks: 90% of their average weekly earnings (AWE) before tax
the remaining 33 weeks: £187.18 or 90% of their AWE (whichever is lower)
Tax and National Insurance need to be deducted.

is that gross or net?

As 60% of your weekly pay is less than SMP, I think they would have to pay you SMP for the 18 weeks.

(assuming your figure is gross and not net)

Yeah it’s gross but I don’t really get much deducted from that, only NI and pension. Don’t pay tax cos I’m just below the threshold.

it says ‘inclusive of SMP’ though and it also seems a bit unfair if it’s meant to be enhanced pay due to length of service I.e a thank you but I won’t get it haha

However I’ve just googled and seen this …

…

You will get the 'higher' of SMP or enhanced maternity pay - in your case, the SMP. Enhanced maternity pay tops SMP up to a % of normal pay, so for your full-time colleagues, they'd see their normal pay for the first 8 weeks. As you earn less, providing you meet the SMP criteria, you will earn SMP at the rates @POTC wrote for your maternity leave as the SMP will be higher than enhanced maternity pay would be for you (and to only pay the enhanced level where below SMP would be illegal).

Use one of the online calculators to work out what you'll receive - they'll break it down weekly or monthly for you.