How does smp get paid

In the 66 weeks 15 months before the expected week of childbirth, you must have worked, or been treated as working, for 26 weeks 6 months. These weeks do not have to be consecutive or for the same employer. You can mix employed and self-employed work. The Maternity Allowance claim form has a handy table to help you figure out your test period according to your expected week of childbirth.

When you claim MA, you will be asked to provide proof of income for 13 weeks in the test period. If you are employed , you should submit 13 payslips where you have earned the most to maximise your MA. You need to have paid 13 Class 2 NI contributions within the test period.

If you do so, you will be treated as having enough earnings to get the flat rate of MA. Ask your employer to explain their reasoning and their calculations. HMRC has overall responsibility for the administration of statutory payments. Being on sick leave can affect your entitlement to SMP. For SMP, your eligibility and the amount you receive depends on your earnings during the reference period. If your employer offers fully paid sick leave, this is unlikely to affect your eligibility for SMP or the amount due.

Yes, you can. The normal rules for qualifying for SMP will apply for your next maternity leave. In that case, you can qualify for MA and use the 13 weeks you were paid the most during the test period to calculate your rate. If you employ yourself through your own limited company, you can be eligible and your company can pay your SMP as long as you meet the other eligibility requirements.

You should be genuinely engaged in some sort of self-employed work to qualify for MA. Normally, Statutory Maternity Pay starts as soon as you take maternity leave. Maternity Leave can start:. After the employee has given notice of their preferred Maternity Leave start and end dates, the employer must supply written confirmation of this within 28 days.

With this relevant period, you would add up the earnings paid during this time and divide by the number of weeks in this example, eight. Last payday on or before the Saturday of the QW 7 th — 13 th December Last working day of the month 30 th September 30th November You would add up the earnings paid during this period, and then divide this number by the number of months in the relevant period.

With this total, you must then multiply by 12 and divide by 52 to get the average pay per week. You get:. SMP is paid in the same way as your wages for example monthly or weekly.

Tax and National Insurance will be deducted. Use the maternity pay calculator to work out how much you could get.

SMP usually starts when you take your maternity leave. Check what you need to do. To help us improve GOV. It will take only 2 minutes to fill in. Cookies on GOV.