Who is paying smp

The earliest MA can start is 11 weeks before your baby is due. MA will usually start on the same date as you decide to start your maternity leave Gov. If you are not sure if you can get MA, you should claim it and the Jobcentre Plus will check. If not, see above for details of Maternity Allowance Gov.

Our support line offers practical and emotional support with feeding your baby and general enquiries for parents, members and volunteers: You might find attending one of NCT's Early Days groups helpful as they give you the opportunity to explore different approaches to important parenting issues with a qualified group leader and other new parents in your area. ACAS offers advice on employment rights. You can call their helpline on The Equality Advisory Support Service offers advice on discrimination and human rights on The Health and Safety Executive has information for new and expectant mothers.

Maternity Action has information on maternity rights and you can call their helpline on helpline You can call the Working Families' helpline on or email: advice workingfamilies. You might find Working Families' maternity calendar helpful as it provides at-a-glance information about your rights, and is a useful reminder of what you need to do to at different stages of your pregnancy.

Yesslaw provides advice and help with resolving disputes at work, as well as information on shared parental leave. Maternity Action. When it comes to content, our aim is simple: every parent should have access to information they can trust. Check what you need to do. To help us improve GOV. It will take only 2 minutes to fill in.

Cookies on GOV. UK We use some essential cookies to make this website work. Accept additional cookies Reject additional cookies View cookies. Hide this message. Home Benefits Benefits and financial support for families. Maternity pay and leave. Your employer will take into account your gross pay that you received in the set period, as long as it counts for National Insurance NI contributions or would count if you earned enough or were old enough to pay NI contributions.

If you get sick pay, overtime payments, bonus payments, arrears of pay or holiday pay this is all included to work out your SMP, if you actually get them in your set period. It is when you get paid the money that counts, not when it was actually earned. If your employer awards a pay rise which is effective at any time from the start of the set period used to work out your SMP and the end of your maternity leave, your employer must work out your SMP again and pay you any balance due to you. If you have a salary sacrifice arrangement in place during the period used to work out your SMP, the SMP average weekly earnings calculation will be based on your contractual earnings which count for NI contributions.

This could mean that your average weekly earnings may not reach the LEL for payment. If you are a student who is getting a bursary, your bursary is not treated as earnings for SMP purposes. Your employer will usually pay you SMP in the same way and at the same time as your normal wages. SMP is treated as earnings so your employer will take off income tax and NI contributions. Your employer may also make other deductions that would be made from your pay such as trade union subscriptions and pension contributions.

If you are expecting more than one baby, the SMP you will get will be exactly the same as if you were expecting only one baby. Even if you don't plan to return to work, you can still get SMP. You don't have to repay it if you decide not to return to work. Once you have qualified for SMP your employer must pay it to you even if you leave employment with them.

Entitlement to SMP does not affect your right to any other maternity payments provided by your employer. But SMP will count towards any maternity payments your employer pays you. We will not reply to your feedback. Don't include any personal or financial information, for example National Insurance, credit card numbers, or phone numbers. The nidirect privacy notice applies to any information you send on this feedback form.