Flowery! Or someone else good with Maternity pay queries!

[PavlovtheCat]

AAAGGGH!

I get paid the normal SMP, plus company maternity pay of 12weeks at half pay.

I recieved a letter from work outlining my maternity pay and how it will be made up.

I get paid 4 weeks at FULL PAY. 2 weeks at 90% (this is the 6weeks that is normally at 90% for the lot). This is based on 'Actual Salary' calculated from the pay period they have used which is August last year. So far, all sounds fine.

They did not pay me full pay for the first 4 weeks so i queried it (or rather, they paid it, said it was wrong and took the overpayment back in Dec).

This is the response I got, minus the actual pay details.

I do not get it, can you help me figure out what on earth they are talking about?

'The letter you were sent says the first 4 weeks of leave at Full Pay but it refers to the Actual weekly pay figure of £xxx which is actually 9/10th of your salary-
Calculated as follows; monthly pay = £xxx, yearly pay = £month x 12 =£year, Daily pay = £year / 365 =£day, Weekly pay = £day x7 =£xxx
90% of weekly pay = £xxx x 0.9 = £xxx ( This is the figure for your Actual weekly pay)'

I cannot figure out why my actual salary would be 90%. This would mean, if this is the calculation being used for all my figures, that the 2weeks 90% would be 90% of that final figure? which is 90% of 90%? and also that the next 12 weeks at half pay would be half of that 90% figure?

Does anyone know why it is worked out like this?

bump

will come back later when i can type with two hands...!

thanks flowery I know what you mean...mine is asleep although i have a 3 year old demanding to use the computer for her dora game!

Don't they mean in the second letter that they said partly the wrong thing in the first letter? So they gave you the right figure but the wrong share - they said it was full pay (which would be 100% obviously) but they should have said 90%?

Sounds like they are paying you 6 weeks at 90% then 12 weeks at 50% - which will be 50% of full pay - from August? Hard luck about the other 10% for these six weeks but I think that's what it means - which fits woth you saying your package is SMP (ie 90%) plus 12 weeks at 50%. Do you get SMP on top of that 50% - NHS workers do as long as togther it doesn't give a figure greater than 100% of usual wage. Then I assume you get another 21 weeks SMP after that?

They seem confused about what 'actual' means! Actual weekly pay must of course mean the amount of pay you actually get each week. Not a fraction of that.

Daily pay isn't year divided bt 365 btw, unless you work 7 days a week. Your daily rate is your annual salary divided by (usually) 260 as that's how many working days there are in a year if you work 5 days a week.

But your daily rate doesn't seem to be relevant anyway. Weekly pay is annual salary divided by 52.

If you get normal SMP it's 90% of your average weekly pay for 6 weeks then just basic SMP. It's not clear from your post what you are supposed to get. What does your maternity policy say, does it say 4 weeks full pay, 2 weeks 90% and then 12 weeks half pay, or does it say 90% 6 weeks then 12 weeks half pay?

If there is any full pay involved, obviously that should be at your normal rate.

Flowery - My maternity policy states 6wks 90%, then half pay for 12 weeks plus SMP. That is what i anticipated getting.

However i received a formal letter which is sent from pay dept (i get paid by local council, but am not employed by them, hard to explain without disclosing my job which i would prefer not to do). This letter was sent from my employers payroll dept, but is provided by pay dept at local council.

It states, along with many other things:

Average weekly pay = £xxx this is an average of your pay over the 8 weeks prior to the end of the qualifying week.
Actual weekly pay is £xxx (this refeclts your actual pay at the time your maternity leave commences.

For the first 4 weeks (28 days) of leave Full Pay

For the next 2 weeks (14 days) of leave 90% of your average pay. If the actual 90% pay exceeds the average 90% pay you will subsequently be paid the difference.

For the next 12 weeks (84 days) of leave 90% of your average pay (maximum limit £123.06) plus half pay where applicable

For the remaining 21 weeks (147 days ) SMP only as above.

• so this is what they sent me, and when i queried it, they sent the response as below.

So, if i have it in writing that they will be paying me full pay for that period, should they in fact do so?

northernlurker yes, the old maternity policy states the normal 6wks @ 90%, but this letter sent to me states otherwise. I had expected it to be same as in the NHS half pay + SMP up to but not over salary.

The overpayment i had in November when i first went on maternity leave was as a consequence of claiming not to have recieved my MATB1 form. So, they paid me a normal wage. So, in December, they paid me all the money owed for SMP for November + december, then took back the overpayment, which left me with a deficit equalling the 10% overpayment. (unfortunately by doing it this way, it makes my december payslip so complicated i am unable to work out what my pay was for each month!

The letter stating the 4 weeks full pay, also states that my 'average' salary is average over 8 wk period and is £xxx which is not in fact my wage, it is 90% of wage, but should not be. And the 'actual' wage, which is my wage apon leaving, is £10 more than the a'verage pay' and thus also incorrect. According to this letter, all my SMP is based on this figure. It does not say it is 90% of my pay. But it is. It is the payroll officer at my HR dept who is stating this is 90% of my salary.

It does not sound right does it?

I work 5 days a week. My hours are annualised, and given on a monthly basis? So rather than working 37 hours per week, i work 160 hours per month.

So, the calculation is wrong then? As they have worked it out over 7 days not 5, would i not get more if done over 5? I might be making that up!

I have emailed HR and said i don't understand why the actual pay is less than, well, my actual pay!

AND, to top it off, my payslip shows they are working out half pay based on me working 31 hours, not 32 ffs.

The letter from the pay department makes sense. SMP is calculated as you know based on your average weekly pay over an 8 week period. The letter from your pay department seems to be saying that if the amount you are earning at the time you start your leave is higher than that average, the 90% calculation will be done on the higher figure. That makes sense.

It sounds as though an error was made in the letter and instead of the actual maternity policy being quoted, 4 weeks full pay was put instead. If the maternity policy clearly says something different and they write to you quickly stating that it was an error, referring to the policy and confirming what your pay will actually be, then I think that would be fair enough tbh.

However it sounds as though they are cocking it all up spectacularly, getting the figures as well as the calculations and policy wrong and not communicating very well either.

I would suggest you work out yourself what you think you are owed. You could fight for the 4 weeks full pay if you want to, and work it out on that basis. Or you could accept that that letter was an error and didn't reflect the maternity policy and work out 6 weeks 90% then 12 weeks SMP basic rate plus half pay.

They have not, as yet said the full pay was stated in error. What they have said is that it is based on 90% salary, so full pay of 90% salary, which to me sounds like they are fudging it!

I think they have got all the figures wrong. Do they use some kind of maternity calculator? I am wondering if someone put in the 90% of my weekly pay into the pay calculator if one is used, and it came up with the figures on that, when they should have put in full pay so it works it out on that.

And I am going to guess the 4 weeks is an error, as you state, that they will not like to admit, as it means admitting yet another fault (they have made a few pay related errors, and some others for me in the last few years!). However, what makes me feel it is not an error, is that it is a standard form, with the relavent personal bits changed, such as the pay figure, my name, my payroll number etc. Maybe the council do things differently and i was sent the wrong letter? .

Oh so complicated! Well at least I dont owe them any money

so, if my pay is higher than the 90% upon leaving, why have an average and an actual pay week? why not just have an actual pay week? (according to them, my pay was £10 per week higher when i left, not sure how, no pay rises or bonus) (that was more a musing to myself but feel free to answer if you know an answer to it!).