SMP Payrise Question

singingsister

Hi everyone,

Some advise please.

I got a letter from my employer back in April this year advising me that I was getting a 10% payrise and that in January 2014 I would get another 10% which I would automatically see on my January 2014 pay.

Since then I have fallen pregnant and I am due to have my baby end of December 2013. How does my payrise effect the SMP I receive. I'm saving the holiday I have so I can use that to start my maternity leave early December so I don't actually start receiving my first 9 weeks at 90% until the very end of December 2013.

From what I've read, once your employer puts in place the 90% for 6 weeks amount it can't be changed. So, if I start receiving this before the start of January I will lose out because the majority of the 9 weeks would be in 2014 when I will have the extra 10% pay increase meaning the 90% I receive will be slightly higher.

Is it cheeky of me to ask my HR if they'll start my payrise from the start of my SMP rather than Jan 1st?

Any advise?

Kayalana99

Im on the understanding if your pay goes up your SMP will go up and be recalucated because your not allowed to 'miss out' on anything because your pregnat.

Im not sure how much it would go up by though...Dont suppose you could push your hoilday forward a week?


Any pay increase you receive or would have received had you not been on maternity leave must be taken into account in the calculation of your maternity-related pay.
For example:
Early in her maternity leave, a woman receiving maternity-related pay becomes entitled to an increase in pay (because there has been a pay rise across the organisation she works for). If her terms of employment do not already provide for the increase to be reflected in her maternity-related pay, the employer must recalculate her maternity pay to take account of the pay increase.
Your employer must also pay you any contractual bonus payment awarded to you during your maternity leave period, or that would have been awarded had you not been on maternity leave. However, when your employer works out your bonus, the actual time during which you are on maternity leave will not generally be included, except for the two or four weeks of compulsory maternity leave.
For example:
A woman goes on maternity leave three months before the end of her company's accounting year. At the end of the accounting year, while she is on maternity leave, bonuses for the whole year are awarded to staff. The woman's bonus is calculated based on the nine months of the accounting year when she was not on maternity leave plus the two week compulsory maternity leave period that applies to her because she is not a factory worker (it would be four weeks if she worked in a factory).

Kayalana99

And yes, not only is it cheeky to ask for them to do a payrise early so you'd recieve more money though out your pregnacy I am guessing the answar would be no

singingsister

Thank you.

My baby is due 21st December and my original plan was to go on maternity leave starting 2nd December.

As I write now I have 18 days left (doesn't count any odd days I may wish to take holiday before December) but presuming I still have 18 days that takes me up to the 29th December (not counting xmas and boxing day as working days obviously).

I could stay at work an extra week meaning my maternity would start 8th December but that only gives me 2 weeks before my due date. It's a difficult one.

Well the important thing is I've found out they have to increase the 90% to match 90% of my Jan 14 salary. Sigh of relief!

chrisbur

As has been said any payrise occurring in the relevant period will increase the SMP. The rate at which SMP is paid is not affected by when you are paid SMP it is decided by the qualifying week which is fixed by the date baby is expected as shown on the matB1. If you have that date put it on here and from that I can tell the period over which the SMP will be calculated.

EDIT Just noticed due date 21/12

chrisbur

A baby due from 15/12/13 to 21/12/13 will give a qualifying week of 01/09/13 to 07/09/13 so SMP will be worked out assuming wages paid at regular weekly intervals with the eight weeks ending with the last payment falling in the qualifying week. Any pay rise falling between the beginning of this calculation period and the end of the maternity leave would affect the SMP 90% rate.

jtr2803

Also, keep in mind that SMP has to start the day after the baby is born if not already started.

tizerbelle

When a payrise occurs/would occur while you are on maternity leave, the employer has to recalculate your average weekly earnings for the "relevant period" as if the pay rise was already in place at that time.

So if the increase is 100% guaranteed and there is no get out of jail card, calculating your average weekly earnings from the outset taking into account the increase wouldn't be a cheeky request as it would actually be saving your HR team work as they won't have to recalculate come January.

singingsister

tizerbelle wrote: »

When a payrise occurs/would occur while you are on maternity leave, the employer has to recalculate your average weekly earnings for the "relevant period" as if the pay rise was already in place at that time.

So if the increase is 100% guaranteed and there is no get out of jail card, calculating your average weekly earnings from the outset taking into account the increase wouldn't be a cheeky request as it would actually be saving your HR team work as they won't have to recalculate come January.

Thanks. I would much rather obviously get the pay rise instigated before I go on maternity leave because the extra money a month will obviously effect the value of the 90% I get and every penny helps.

One thing I am confused about is.....
Do they use the qualifying week pay to ascertain your 90% or do they have to use the pay at the time they pay you to calculate it? So come January 1st, they'd have to increase how much I was getting for the remainder of the 6 weeks.

Reason I've got a bee in my bonnet over this is because the majority of my 6 weeks will be from 2014 onwards and I want to do all I can to get the extra £ if I can.

chrisbur

The qualifying week is used to determine the period over which the average is calculated to work out the 90% figure that is paid. Any pay rises that happen anytime between the start of the period that is used to work out the average and the end of the maternity leave should be used to re-calculate the average and the extra paid to the employee. This would normally be paid when the pay rise was implemented but as tizerbelle says if it known about in advance could be paid with the original payment.