My boss has kept my Statutory Maternity Pay and spent it

no1mum_2

I went onto maternity leave in December. I qualified for SMP from the Inland Revenue and was meant to receive about £430 at the end of each month.

However I have never been paid any of it by my boss. I have since left employment and am a full time mum. I am now taking my boss to an employment tribunal over the unpaid SMP, but this could take a year or so to sort out.

My boss has sent his case to the courts and says that I never gave him a chance to pay me the SMP and that he hasn't been able to apply for it. He also says that his business is in financial trouble and he cannot afford to pay me the money owed.

However, I recently used the Data Protection Act on the payroll company and discovered that my boss did claim my SMP from the Revenue, and he has spent it all on his company debts.

My family has struggled to survive without this moeny and now I a worried that I will never get it back as the Revenue will not pay me money they have already paid my boss.

Does anybody know what my rights are now? What can I do about my boss spending my SMP? Do I have any legal course of action against this? Can I report him to the police for theft or fraud? If he goes bankrupt will I ever get it back?

Please help me as I don't know what to do now.

jillie1974

omg thats awful!
dont really have any advide but i'm sure someone will be along in a while to help

Nilrem

I would personally report him to the the tax office, in addition to anything else - as he has by the sounds of it commited fraud (and the Tax man tends to look extremely seriously on any form of fraud involving the tax system).

If he's also told the court in an official document he never applied for it he's probably commitied additional offences (purjury?).

I'm afraid i'm not able to say help/much else.

india

Have you consider small claims court the process is very quick. I took someone to small claims court it took 2 months for the case to be called and she had to pay me all the money within 4 weeks. I had to pay the up fron fee which was £120 but she also had to pay this back when she lost.

immoral_angeluk

Oh my god that's disgusting!! How can he sleep at night! Haven't got any advice but just wanted to wish you the best of luck and hope it gets sorted quickly. Try sending him a letter threatening to take him to court and saying you're going to report him to the inland revenue as it might convince him to pay up.

pippamannequin

I had a boss once that kept a £700 + tax rebate..:mad: nothing I could do :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Taloola78

k60sav wrote:

I had a boss once that kept a £700 + tax rebate..:mad: nothing I could do :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

This isn't allowed and you should have contacted the Tax office as I would class that as theft.

Taloola78

I used to work for a company who got grants from the government to employ long term unemployed people, the money was meant to be towards their wages but my boss, wasn't a very nice man and used to employ them long enough to get the grant and then sack them for silly little things. But he never ever told them he had sacked them so still claimed their grants. He ended up being prosecuted for fraud and paid a hefty fine which led to his company going into liquidation.
Not exactly the same but similar as he was claiming money for people and not telling them and pocketing it himself.
My advice would be to contact the Inland Revenue and explain everything to them and also explain that you know he has claimed it. You might take a while to get your money but he should learn not to steal from people pretty quick.

real1314

small claims court might be one way, but I' suggest a quick look for an emplyment solicitor - first session free could be the thing you need.

and after the 1st session, a phone call to the boss might (hope fully?) lead to some action?

real1314

small claims court might be one way, but I' suggest a quick look for an emplyment solicitor - first session free could be the thing you need.

and after the 1st session, a phone call to the boss might (hope fully?) lead to some action?

pippamannequin

Taloola78 wrote:

This isn't allowed and you should have contacted the Tax office as I would class that as theft.

I did but the tax office said that they paid my employer as he had filled out my tax forms and nominated himself to receive the payment to then pay me. The tax office said they couldnt do anything and i had to raise a prosecution against my employer. My employer denied receiving it. it was a never ending circle and i left the job immediately. Probably this was my downfall as i became tired of persuing it. At the time i was about 19, not very brave.