Maternity pay ?

pennies2pounds_3

Hello all. My wife is due in june, yippeeeeeee cant wait!. Is anyone on maternity pay at the moment ? . Just wandering how much tax and NI she will pay out of the £108.35 (april 2006) any of you mothers out there -can you help?. Of course she will have to pay her pension too.

CharleneUK

I'm currently on mat pay and my tax/ NI has been (from £106) on this months pay

NI: £1.76
Income tax refund of £18.26.

nej

My wife is getting about the same - a small refund on the tax.

Counting_Pennies_2

You say her pension comes out of the amount too.

I would advise your wife ask her HR department to request the information from payroll, as the pension payment will make a difference to total deductions made.

Savvy_Sue

Counting_Pennies wrote:

You say her pension comes out of the amount too.

I would advise your wife ask her HR department to request the information from payroll, as the pension payment will make a difference to total deductions made.

When you say she will 'have' to pay her pension too, is that a voluntary contribution she is making, or a contribution her employer requires her to make (superannuation when I used to pay one!), or an optional contribution where the employer pays x% if she pays at least y%, or a pension contribution made by the employer?

Because if it's a voluntary contribution, she could presumably suspend it if that would be helpful to you (although I'd recommend keeping it up if at all possible). But if it's any of the others, the answer may be different. My understanding is that the employer MUST continue to pay their contribution as if she was getting her 'normal' amount. I have a colleague currently on SMP and we're paying 2% of her 'normal' salary, which is our pension deal.

Agree that talking to payroll is the best advice!

pennies2pounds_3

Thanks Savvy have asked my wife to ask her Hr dept but they didnt know! . Today (later on ) she is asking payroll so hopefully we will know well in advance how many nappies we will be able to buy with her smp

heaven

Hello, I was given the option of paying my pension contribution when I returned to work over a period of 12 months. Good luck with babe!

megan050903

Hi, congratulations!!

When I was on maternity leave I paid only small amount of tax and NI - hardly anything I seem to remember.

Your wife's payroll must tell her how much pension they will be paying her whilst on leave. I was paid maternity pay for a total of 26 weeks and my Company was able to confirm what I would be receiving each month and how much would be deducted. Ask you wife to keep on at them, because a response of don't know, is not good enough!!

Also, remember that she is entitled to all outstanding holiday leave on her return and this can sometimes be added on to her maternity leave.

Hope this helps!!

Don't forgot to apply for your tax credits as soon as the baby is born.

pennies2pounds_3

Tax credits is another of my dilemmas . Not too sure if we are able to get any as we are between us earning £51300 before Mr Brown gets his hands on it. I believe you have to declare income from ISA's and other savings too. Anyone got any ideas how much we may get? I know there is a child element and a family element but its a bit confusing to say the least!.

Savvy_Sue

pennies2pounds wrote:

Thanks Savvy have asked my wife to ask her Hr dept but they didnt know! . Today (later on ) she is asking payroll so hopefully we will know well in advance how many nappies we will be able to buy with her smp

So the thing you need to be clear about is "What is currently going into wife's pension pot each month and where is it coming from?"

As far as any of her personal, "I'm choosing to do this" contributions, then she should be able to stop paying, and tell HR and payroll that this is what she wants to do. Heaven's suggestion is a good one if it can possibly be afforded. I suppose it depends on the scheme, but certainly in ours - which is a Stakeholder - we can vary the amount we pay each month, if we want to. It would drive me round the bend if anyone did this, because I'm the one who has to tell the pension people if anyone's contribution changes, and they find it nigh on impossible to actually act on what I tell them, but that's a different story.

As far as what her employER puts into the pot, my understanding is that if the EmployER normally pays a fixed % of the EmployEE's salary into a pension, then the EER must continue to pay this amount throughout the maternity leave. My source is probably on the Pensions board if you care to do a search over there (I'm currently on a very unfriendly computer so excuse me not going to look myself!)

So that's two situations where I think the answer is fairly clear. Which just leaves questions if she's on a scheme where every EEE pays X% of salary into their pension whether they want to or not, or if she's on a scheme where the EER pays X% if she pays at least Y% (the scheme at my DH's company, again I think it's a stakeholder). And I'm sure someone on the Pensions board would be able to answer that as well!

megan050903

pennies2pounds wrote:

Tax credits is another of my dilemmas . Not too sure if we are able to get any as we are between us earning £51300 before Mr Brown gets his hands on it. I believe you have to declare income from ISA's and other savings too. Anyone got any ideas how much we may get? I know there is a child element and a family element but its a bit confusing to say the least!.

hi, try this link

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/individuals/iwtcheck-my-eligibility-for-tax-credits.shtml

You can calculate how much you may get - for a rough guide input info as if the baby has just been born and this will give you rough idea. Alternatively you can ring them on 0845 300 3900