Childcare Vouchers whilst on Maternity Leave

Reason123

I have had a reply - not that its of any help?

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Thank you for your email dated 07 March 2014, regarding childcare vouchers.

We work within guidelines that are set out by the HMRC and although we have our own terms and conditions, these are based on the regulations that they set out.

In this instance we are unable to give specific advice in relation to your query about maternity pay and deductions, as how your employer will run the childcare vouchers part of your employee benefits when you are on maternity leave, will vary depending on your employer. We suggest that you speak to your employer’s payroll department about how they will make the deductions from your salary.

In regards to our terms and conditions, the clause simply sets out that if you are entitled to Childcare Vouchers whilst on maternity leave, then the amount payable for them will be deducted from the top-up maternity pay your employer makes to you (rather than the statutory pay). This would of course mean that in effect your top-up amount of maternity pay effectively reduces by that amount. To check the specifics of how your employee benefit operates for the length of your maternity leave you will need to discuss this with your payroll department as it will be dependent on their policies as to what this section means to you.

If there is anything else we can assist you with please contact us

bll78

The letter refers to an enhanced package which makes me wonder if there's some confusion which can be answered with the quick question then is your wife on SMP, or does she get an enhanced package from her employer i.e more than 90% of pay for 6 weeks followed by £136 a week (or 90% of her pay if it's lower) for next 33 weeks?

If she has an enhanced package there's no issue, the employer can legally take the contributions form the enhancement it's only the SMP (£136) they can't touch.

Icequeen99

Reason123 wrote: »

I have had a reply - not that its of any help?

--

Thank you for your email dated 07 March 2014, regarding childcare vouchers.

We work within guidelines that are set out by the HMRC and although we have our own terms and conditions, these are based on the regulations that they set out.

In this instance we are unable to give specific advice in relation to your query about maternity pay and deductions, as how your employer will run the childcare vouchers part of your employee benefits when you are on maternity leave, will vary depending on your employer. We suggest that you speak to your employer’s payroll department about how they will make the deductions from your salary.

In regards to our terms and conditions, the clause simply sets out that if you are entitled to Childcare Vouchers whilst on maternity leave, then the amount payable for them will be deducted from the top-up maternity pay your employer makes to you (rather than the statutory pay). This would of course mean that in effect your top-up amount of maternity pay effectively reduces by that amount. To check the specifics of how your employee benefit operates for the length of your maternity leave you will need to discuss this with your payroll department as it will be dependent on their policies as to what this section means to you.

If there is anything else we can assist you with please contact us

It does confirm what we have been saying on this thread, childcare vouchers can be deducted from anything over and above SMP, but not from SMP.

IQ

bll78

Icequeen99 wrote: »

It does confirm what we have been saying on this thread, childcare vouchers can be deducted from anything over and above SMP, but not from SMP.

IQ

I'm wondering if the OP is thinking SMP means maternity pay, and believes that his wife's enhanced package is all called SMP

Icequeen99

bll78 wrote: »

I'm wondering if the OP is thinking SMP means maternity pay, and believes that his wife's enhanced package is all called SMP

I did begin to wonder. OP - can you confirm you have been talking about basic SMP rather than SMP+ contractual maternity pay?

IQ