Maternity Pay Calculation Help "Average"

AWOL_2

My wife goes on Maternity leave in a couple of months and we are unsure how much SMP she will get for the first 6 weeks. She does a fair bit of overtime, although it is not garanteed she does about £500 worth of overtime on average each and every month.
Say her monthly salary is £1000 plus over time £500 therefore would she get 90% of £1000 or 90% of £1500

Anyone know how the average is calculated? does this include overtime/bonus etc paid?

How much SMP will I get?

SMP is paid at two rates:

• For the first six weeks you get 90% of your average earnings. The average is calculated from the pay you actually received in the eight weeks or two months up to the last pay day before the end of the qualifying week (i.e. the 15th week before your due date).

Conor_3

It's usually worked out on the basic wage with no overtime or bonuses.

squashy

I thought it did take overtime into account? It quotes ACTUAL pay recieved?

AWOL_2

The word used is average earnings therefore i would assume its actual pay received. Does anyone have a difinitive answer on this techinal question!

Also before we go to the employer we would like to be sure of our facts as you can imagine it could otherwise be embarressing!

sazziecee

Hi

My calculation included my overtime, she will need to go back and find out how much she earned in total over that 8 week qualifying period.

Sarah

JoJoB

Generally the qualifying 8 week period that the average earnings are calculated from is the 8 weeks leading up to the 15th week before your due date. Most companies fall in line with this as far as I can see but she should check with her HR to make sure. Overtime should definitely be included, I hope so anyway as that is what I am counting on too! (Or I wouldn't have bothered doing all that overtime during those 8 weeks in order to bump up my maternity).

chrisbur

AWOL wrote: »

The word used is average earnings therefore i would assume its actual pay received. Does anyone have a difinitive answer on this techinal question!

Also before we go to the employer we would like to be sure of our facts as you can imagine it could otherwise be embarressing!

From http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/e15.pdf
Page 10

What counts as earnings

Earnings do not affect maternity or paternity leave.
Use the amount before deductions such as PAYE, NICs and
pension contributions

Include

• Payments which are earnings for Class 1 National
Insurance contributions. (Your employee does not have
to have paid NICs.)

• All earnings paid in the period, including money earned
outside the period, such as holiday pay, overtime,
bonuses and any lump sum paid for arrears of pay.

• Statutory Sick Pay.

• Statutory Maternity Pay.

• Statutory Paternity Pay.

• Statutory Adoption Pay.

Page 15 gives exact details for working out the average earnings for weekly paid employees and Page 16 for monthly. These average earnings first decide if you qualify and then are used for the 90% calculation if you do qualify.

gintonic

I have worked full time for the same employer for 3 years with no breaks. I went on maternity leave last may and opted to take the additional 3 months additional unpaid maternity leave. I recently found out I am pregnant again, and being due in september means that the 'test period' which they calculate your maternity pay falls within the unpaid leave period (the 8 weeks leading up to the 15th week before the due date) - meaning my earnings during that smal window are nothing and therefore I don't qualify for any maternity pay at all for my second period of materniy leave. This is what work is telling me.
Is this right? It seems I am being penalised for taking additional maternity leave, or just for the unfortunate timing of my second pregnancy. If it had been earlier or later there would be no problem. Can anyone help? There is very little information on the web and my HR department don't seem to have a clue. Should I have started a new thread? I am a newbie

chrisbur

gintonic wrote: »

I have worked full time for the same employer for 3 years with no breaks. I went on maternity leave last may and opted to take the additional 3 months additional unpaid maternity leave. I recently found out I am pregnant again, and being due in september means that the 'test period' which they calculate your maternity pay falls within the unpaid leave period (the 8 weeks leading up to the 15th week before the due date) - meaning my earnings during that smal window are nothing and therefore I don't qualify for any maternity pay at all for my second period of materniy leave. This is what work is telling me.
Is this right? It seems I am being penalised for taking additional maternity leave, or just for the unfortunate timing of my second pregnancy. If it had been earlier or later there would be no problem. Can anyone help? There is very little information on the web and my HR department don't seem to have a clue. Should I have started a new thread? I am a newbie

Sounds to me that you will proberbly qualify for maternity allowance, details

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/advisers/claimforms/ma1_print.pdf