GUIDANCE FOR EMPLOYERS
Pregnancy
and maternity
Maternity Pay
Equality and Human Rights Commission
www.equalityhumanrights.com
Pregnancy and Maternity Guidance for Employers: Maternity Pay
Introduction
This guidance covers your legal obligations to new parents and parents-to-be. We
have also highlighted good practice recommendations that go beyond the minimum
that the law requires. Following good practice can help you recruit and retain good
people but each business must decide its own approach.
Statutory Maternity Pay
Statutory Maternity Pay is paid for 39 weeks. It is paid by you and reimbursed by HM
Revenue and Customs.
The 15th week before the expected week of childbirth is known as the “qualifying
week”. The Expected week of childbirth starts on the Sunday at the beginning of the
week in which the baby is due. It is different from the actual week of childbirth. The
Expected week of childbirth will be given on the MAT B1 maternity certificate issued
to the woman by her midwife or doctor when she is about 20 week pregnant.
Example — To work out the qualifying week you find the Sunday at the start of
the Expected week of childbirth and count back 15 weeks. That is the first day of
the qualifying week, which starts on a Sunday.
Agency workers, casual workers and some freelance workers may qualify for
Statutory Maternity Pay if they meet the normal qualifying conditions for Statutory
Maternity Pay.
To be eligible for Statutory Maternity Pay, an employee must have:
•
at least 26 weeks’ continuous service with you by the end of the qualifying week
•
be employed by you in all or part of the qualifying week
•
have average earnings before tax of at least the Lower Earnings Limit of £112
per week (April 2015-April 2016) in the eight weeks (if paid weekly) or two
months (if paid monthly) before the end of the 15th week before the Expected
week of childbirth
Continuous service includes any week in which the employee has a contract of
employment with you and will include time when an employee is on sick leave,
annual leave or taking unpaid leave.
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Pregnancy and Maternity Guidance for Employers: Maternity Pay
If an employee’s pay is reduced during the calculation period she may no longer be
eligible to receive Statutory Maternity Pay as she may not have sufficient average
earnings.
This may happen, for example, where she receives only Statutory Sick Pay during
the calculation period, or if she takes some form of unpaid leave.
If an employee is made redundant before her ‘qualifying week’ (the 15th week before
the expected week of childbirth) she will not qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay but
may be able to claim Maternity Allowance from the Jobcentre Plus.
If she is made redundant in or after the qualifying week and she qualifies for
Statutory Maternity Pay, she is legally entitled to receive Statutory Maternity Pay for
the full 39 week period.
Statutory Maternity Pay is paid at 90% of average earnings for the first six weeks.
The remaining 33 weeks are paid at £139.58 per week (April 2015-April 2016) or
90% of average earnings if that is less. Tax and National Insurance contributions
are deducted.
If an employee receives a pay rise at any time during the period from the start of the
calculation period to the end of her maternity leave, you must adjust the amount of
Statutory Maternity Pay she receives (or has already received) to reflect the increase
in pay.
How to calculate average earnings
Average earnings are calculated by reference to pay received in the calculation
period. This is the eight-week period up to and including the qualifying week.
You must take into account any pay on which National Insurance contributions are
payable. So for example you will need to include sick pay, overtime, retrospective
pay awards and holiday pay.
For weekly paid employees, you can work out average weekly earnings from the
eight pay days up to (and including) the last pay day before the end of the qualifying
week. To work out average earnings, just add together the pay received in those
eight pay days and divide by eight.
If the employee is paid monthly, you can work out average weekly earnings by
adding together the earnings received on the last normal monthly pay day before the
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Pregnancy and Maternity Guidance for Employers: Maternity Pay
end of the qualifying week and any earnings received after the last normal payday at
least eight weeks before that.
Then divide that figure by the number of months’ earnings it covers, multiply by 12
and divide by 52. For most employees, the relevant payments will simply be the last
two monthly payments received by the end of the qualifying week.
For help with calculating entitlement to Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Adoption
Pay, Statutory sick pay, Statutory sick pay or Statutory Shared Parental Pay, contact
HMRC on 0300 200 3200. New employers should ring 0300 200 3211.
If an employee receives a pay rise (or would have received a pay rise if she had
been at work) which takes effect at any time from the start of the 8 week calculation
period for Statutory Maternity Pay up to the end of the employee’s maternity leave,
you must recalculate her average earnings to take account of the pay rise and pay
her any additional Statutory Maternity Pay that she is entitled to.
Length of payment of Statutory Maternity Pay
Once an employee satisfies the qualifying conditions for Statutory Maternity Pay, it is
payable by you for 39 weeks even if the employee:
•
subsequently resigns
•
is dismissed or made redundant
•
advises you that she will not be returning to work from maternity or adoption
leave
If the employee starts work for a new employer, her Statutory Maternity Pay will stop,
unless she was working for that employer in the 15th week before her baby was due.
An employee has the option of switching some of her Statutory Maternity Pay to
Shared Parental Leave Pay which she can hare with her partner.
Failure to qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay
If an employee does not qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay, you must complete form
Statutory Maternity Pay1 explaining why and give it to her along with her MAT B1
maternity certificate.
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Pregnancy and Maternity Guidance for Employers: Maternity Pay
An employee who does not qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay may be able to claim
Maternity Allowance or Employment and Support Allowance from the Jobcentre
Plus.
Reimbursement from HM Revenue and Customs
The amount of Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay, Statutory sick pay,
Statutory sick pay or Statutory Shared Parental Pay can be deducted from payments
to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of PAYE tax, student loans, National
Insurance contributions and Construction Industry Scheme deductions.
You can claim 92% of any Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay, Statutory
sick pay, Statutory sick pay or Statutory Shared Parental Pay paid to your
employees. If your annual liability for Class 1 National Insurance contributions for the
last complete tax year before the woman’s qualifying week was £45,000 or less, you
can claim 103% of the Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay, Statutory
sick pay, Statutory sick pay or Statutory Shared Parental Pay paid to employees.
See www.gov.uk/recover-statutory-payments/reclaiming
You may also apply to HMRC for an advance payment if you do not have enough
funds to make payments to employees in respect of Statutory Maternity Pay,
Statutory Adoption Pay, Statutory sick pay, Statutory sick pay or Statutory Shared
Parental Pay.
If you are insolvent and cannot pay Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay,
Statutory sick pay, Statutory sick pay or Statutory Shared Parental Pay, your
employee should contact the Statutory Payments Disputes Team on 03000 560 630
and they will pay the employee directly.
You must record payments of Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory sick pay, Statutory
Adoption Pay, Statutory sick pay or Statutory Shared Parental Pay and keep records
for three years of all statutory payments. You can use the HMRC forms to record
payments or you can use your own forms. See Employee becoming a parent,
search2.hmrc.gov.uk/kb5/hmrc/forms/payeforms.page
You can call the HMRC Employers’ Helpline on 0300 200 3200 for help with paying
and reclaiming statutory payments. New employers should ring 0300 200 3211.
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Pregnancy and Maternity Guidance for Employers: Maternity Pay
Employee does not have to repay Statutory Maternity Pay
An employee does not have to repay any Statutory Maternity Pay if she does not
return to work after maternity leave as you will be reimbursed by HMRC.
Good practice: Contractual maternity pay
It is good practice to consider whether you can offer contractual maternity pay over
and above the statutory minimum. You can offer maternity pay at full or half pay for
some or all of the leave period. Any contractual pay can top up the Statutory
Maternity Pay which is reclaimed from HMRC.
You can ask for any contractual maternity pay (over and above the Statutory
Maternity Pay element) to be repaid if the employee does not return to work for a
reasonable period. This needs to be agreed in writing with the employee and should
be included in your Maternity Policy.
It is good practice to allow an employee to repay any contractual maternity pay in
small instalments. An employee is ‘back at work’ once her maternity leave period has
ended, even if she is on sick leave, annual leave or unpaid leave or has reduced her
hours of work.
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Pregnancy and Maternity Guidance for Employers: Maternity Pay
Contact us
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the Commission’s website: www.equalityhumanrights.com.
For advice, information or guidance on equality, discrimination or human rights
issues, please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service, a free and
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© 2015 Equality and Human Rights Commission
Published July 2015
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