SMP Question

loopy013

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone can help with a question about SMP?
I had my baby in January I had 6 weeks maternity pay from the company I work for at 90% and then my pay went down to SMP which is £135 per week.
I get paid from work on the 15th of each month. They rang this week to say that I will only be getting 2 weeks SMP for the month of March as they pay wages 2 weeks in arrears and 2 weeks in advance and due to new government guidelines they can only pay in arrears so I'll get 2 weeks SMP in March and then 4 weeks SMP in April.
Is this correct? I dont understand it because if I was in work I get a full months wages each month regardless of when I'm paid. I feel like I'm losing 2 weeks money.
Any ideas???

an9i77

Doesn't sound like any new government guidelines I've heard of. Employers can decide to change when they pay you and start paying in arrears, I'd have thought they would need to give you notice of this though.

Savvy_Sue

an9i77 wrote: »

Doesn't sound like any new government guidelines I've heard of. Employers can decide to change when they pay you and start paying in arrears, I'd have thought they would need to give you notice of this though.

It may be the employer's response to RTI (Real Time Information). If the employer is paying on the 15th for the whole month, I believe HMRC will require this information on 15th.

loopy, are they changing the pay date for all your colleagues?

Actually, I think I'm working this out: I think they are right, they cannot pay SMP before the date on which it is due. So on 15th March they would pay you 2 weeks SMP, and on 15th April they would pay you 4 weeks SMP, for the second half of March and the first part of April.

Although I'm confused about why you're only getting March's SMP in April ...

The key thing is that you get the right no. of weeks of SMP in the end!

loopy013

Hi savvy_sue thanks for the response.
Everyone in work gets paid on the 15th of each month on the phone Head Office said it applies to people on maternity leave and long term sick so I'm amusing everyone else is staying the same apart from my one colleague who is on long term sick (but I know he is resigning if she hasn't already).
I was wondering if it was something to do with the end of the financial year but on the other hand I thought you could have up to 39 weeks continuous SMP? Confused :$

chrisbur

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Actually, I think I'm working this out: I think they are right, they cannot pay SMP before the date on which it is due. So on 15th March they would pay you 2 weeks SMP, and on 15th April they would pay you 4 weeks SMP, for the second half of March and the first part of April.

Although I'm confused about why you're only getting March's SMP in April ...

The key thing is that you get the right no. of weeks of SMP in the end!

The employers guide advises.....

"SMP is a weekly payment. It should be paid on the employee’s next usual payday on or after the last day of their pay week."
Which as you say means that it should not be paid untill after it is due.
Not to the best of my knowledge a new instruction I think it has been there for as long as we have had SMP but perhaps someone in the wages office has actually read the guide this year. There did used to be a warning in the guide (if I remember correctly) about paying in advance as there are circumstances when that money might not be due and would have to be recovered; but that seems to have gone now.

Also confused why March is being paid in April, if that is the case seems like it is being paid late rather than early.

Savvy_Sue

chrisbur wrote: »

Not to the best of my knowledge a new instruction I think it has been there for as long as we have had SMP but perhaps someone in the wages office has actually read the guide this year.

:rotfl: That's true!

Thinking back to our last maternity leave / long term sick people, we pay the whole month on 25th, and our payroll have advised that we can only pay the SMP / SSP up to 25th, rather than to end of the month. Must make their sums quite complicated!