Please help me work out my maternity net pay

frenchbaguette

I have just received my maternity pay gross breakdown from my employer (NHS) but I've really confused myself with trying to work out the net.
I start maternity leave in 2 weeks.
I am mid point band 7, working full time.
I tried putting each monthly payment into an after tax calculator but I don't think that's accurate as it assumes that monthly income is consistent of an annual income which it obviously isn't, so for several months it has me paying no tax which can't be right because over the course of this tax year I've obviously still already earned enough to pay tax normally.
So then I tried just basing it off of what I currently pay; currently my net income is 31% less than my gross income after tax, NI and pension (no student loan) so I just deducted 31% from each payment but that made it considerably lower (obviously) and now I'm really confused about what to actually expect and don't feel any better informed than if I never had the gross breakdown.
Can anyone who understands it all help me please?

sheramber

As you are on a cumulative code your previous pay and tax will need to be included in any calculation for it to be accurate.

Savvy_Sue

frenchbaguette said:

I have just received my maternity pay gross breakdown from my employer (NHS) but I've really confused myself with trying to work out the net.

That is a bit of a black art ... 

frenchbaguette said:

I tried putting each monthly payment into an after tax calculator but I don't think that's accurate as it assumes that monthly income is consistent of an annual income which it obviously isn't, so for several months it has me paying no tax which can't be right because over the course of this tax year I've obviously still already earned enough to pay tax normally.

It is entirely possible that you'll get a tax refund in the first month, and again when you drop down to SMP, although I can't guarantee this, definitely if you go onto unpaid OML. You're right that it assumes this month's income will be consistent for the rest of the tax year, but it adds each month's payments to what you've earned so far in the tax year, takes how much tax you've paid so far, projects this month's income forwards, calculates how much tax is due for the year on that basis, works out how much tax is due this month. 

frenchbaguette said:

Can anyone who understands it all help me please?

No idea if that helps ... What you could do is work out your annual gross income and put that into a tax calculator. It won't give you monthly figures but will give you an overall? 

In my experience, you get more to begin with because you get the tax refund ... 

Savvy_Sue

Savvy_Sue said:

frenchbaguette said:

Can anyone who understands it all help me please?

No idea if that helps ... What you could do is work out your annual gross income and put that into a tax calculator. It won't give you monthly figures but will give you an overall? 

In my experience, you get more to begin with because you get the tax refund ... 

I've worked out what you can do here ... at least I think this will work, near enough. Roughly speaking, you will have 7 months of normal salary and 5 on maternity pay. So:

• From your September payslip (which you may not have yet, but just add another month's gross salary to August if you don't), note your total gross pay to date.
• From the breakdown of your maternity pay, note the total gross amount due to you by the end of March. 
• Add those two together and put them into the annual calculator. This should give you a net pay for the year, call that N.
• Going back to your latest payslip, deduct your total net pay to date (NTD) from N, let's call that N>M (to March)

I think that if you divide N>M by 5, that should give you a rough (very rough, but hopefully slightly pessimistic!) idea of your average net maternity pay, at least until the end of March. In the early months you are likely to get more, so 'don't spend it all at once'. And because SMP is calculated by the week, once you drop down to the basic, you'll find that some months pay 4 weeks and others pay 5 - again this causes hiccups in the amount of tax you're paying / refunded.

If I've missed anything crucial, someone will point it out. 

SMP is 90% of your normal salary for 6 weeks, but I am guessing the NHS is more generous than that? 

(I did say it was a black art. We pay slightly more than the statutory minimum, and the last set of calculations I had to do were fiddly, especially as there was a payrise to take into account. And at her request I based all my workings on my colleague's m/l starting on her due date, and then she went and had baby early, so I had to start again!)