If your baby is born prematurely, the start date of your Maternity Pay Period MPP may or may not be affected, depending on just how premature the birth is. Your SMP will not be affected.
You can still get SMP for the full payment period. Your employer should pay it to you just as if the baby had been born when it was due.
You must, if reasonably practicable, inform your employer of the birth within 3 weeks. You will then receive the SMP due to you but the pay period will now start on the day following the day your baby is born and will last for up to 39 weeks.
You must also still provide your employer with medical evidence of the date the baby was due to be born. Evidence of both the expected date and the actual date of birth can be provided together on part B of the maternity certificate form MATB1 issued by your doctor or midwife. Your employer may agree to extend this time limit to 13 weeks but no longer if they feel you had good reason for delay. You will be taken as satisfying the continuous employment rule if you would have satisfied it but for your early childbirth.
The period over which the earnings rule is applied and your average weekly earnings are calculated will be the 8 weeks that end with the Saturday before the birth of your baby.
The payment period will start on the day following the day your baby was born. If you are expecting more than one baby, your entitlement to SMP is exactly the same as if you were expecting only one.
If your baby is born dead earlier than the 24th week of your pregnancy you will not be able to get SMP. If your baby is stillborn from the start of the 24th week of pregnancy and you have notification for the registration of a stillbirth from the attending doctor or midwife or a certificate of stillbirth, you are entitled to SMP where all the conditions for payment are satisfied.
If your baby is born alive and then dies, you are still entitled to SMP. You will not get SMP if you are a mariner on a foreign-going vessel or deep sea fishing vessel employed by a UK employer while under a contract for which your employer pays a special low rate of NI contributions. If you are a continental shelf worker or a mariner employed by a UK employer trading within the near continental limits you are covered by the SMP scheme.
Moreover, if your baby is born early or you cannot be returned to the mainland when your MPP is due to start, you will be regarded as if you were in the UK. Where you are entitled to ESA or SSP directly before the start of your SMP , and you continue to be sick you should keep giving medical evidence if this is still needed. Most people who work for an employer and earn enough on average to equal or exceed the NI LEL get SSP from their employer when they are unable to work due to illness or disability.
If you are still employed at the start of the 11th week before the week your baby is due and are sick for 4 days or more in a row, you may be able to get SSP for periods of sickness up to the day before your SMP is due to start. But if you are off work sick because of your pregnancy in the 4 weeks running up to the week before the week your baby is due you cannot get SSP and your employer will start paying you SMP ; if SSP is being paid to you, it will stop and SMP will start.
Also see changes that will affect the start of your SMP. You should inform your employer and let them have whatever evidence they require from you. Your employer will then check if you are entitled to SSP and, if so, they will pay it. If you do not go back to work for your employer when your SMP ends because you are incapable of work, and you are not entitled to SSP for example, because of your maternity absence you may not satisfy the earnings rules , your employer must issue you with an exclusion form SSP1.
Follow the instructions on the form if you want to claim Employment and Support Allowance from Jobcentre Plus. If your contract with your employer has ended you should contact Jobcentre Plus on to claim ESA. If you get ESA when your entitlement to SMP starts, you can continue to receive it provided that you continue to supply Jobcentre Plus with medical evidence of your incapacity, unless you have been told that this is no longer required.
ESA will again be paid in full when SMP ends and it will continue for as long as your entitlement lasts. Telephone: Textphone: if you have speech or hearing difficulties. Any SMP you are due for earlier weeks remains the responsibility of your employer.
If your employer is not insolvent or bankrupt, but is in financial difficulties or the business is closed, they should still pay you SMP. Make sure you give your employer notice and medical evidence at the right times. Regardless of your length of service or hours of work you can have certain protections as soon as your employer knows you are pregnant. If you are dismissed from your job on grounds related to any of the following, you will be entitled to make a complaint of unfair dismissal to an employment tribunal:.
It is also direct sex discrimination for an employer to treat you less favourably for a reason related to your pregnancy or maternity leave. See unfair dismissal and sex discrimination for more information. If you find it hard to manage on SMP and any other income you have, you might be entitled to Income Support. You will have to claim this separately at Jobcentre Plus:. If your employer does not pay you SMP when you think they should, or pays you less than you think you are entitled to, ask them for an explanation of the decision.
There may be a good reason for it. They will also ask for more evidence from you or your employer if needed. If you find it hard to write down what you want to say, you can ask a friend or your trade union or staff association officer to help you. If your employer has given you anything in writing to do with SMP , keep it.
You have 30 days from the date of the decision to do so. Find more information in the tax tribunal guide. If after the appeal the decision is that your employer should pay you SMP , your employer must pay you by your next pay day or, if that is not possible, no later than the second pay day after the appeal decision.
Payment of SMP does not depend on you intending to return to work for your employer after your baby is born. If you qualified for SMP you are entitled to get it and keep it, even if you do not return to work.
Your employer cannot ask you to pay back any SMP that you have received and that you are entitled to. You have a right to return to your former job after ordinary maternity leave on the same terms and conditions. If you take additional maternity leave after ordinary maternity leave you have a right to return to the same job, or one with no less favourable terms and conditions if it is not possible for you to return to your former job.
If your contract of employment gives you different rights to the statutory minimum set out above, you can take advantage of whichever is better for you. Also see employee rights when on leave: returning to work. You can claim JSA only if you are capable of, available for and actively seeking work. Contact Jobcentre Plus on:. You do not have to pay SMP back if you do not return to work.
Read more about tax credits. Keep a note of the period during which you received SMP. If you were not paying or treated as paying NI contributions during this period, credits may be awarded later to keep your NI record in order and entitle you to other benefits in later years.
These credits will only be needed if your NI record is deficient in the tax year or years when you received SMP. If you are a married woman paying reduced rate NI contributions you will not be able to get NI credits. You might get MA if:. If you have more than one employer, and you get SMP from one employer and not the other, you cannot claim MA. If you are both employed and self-employed and you can get SMP from your employer, you cannot claim MA for your self-employment.
MA can be paid for up to 39 weeks. If you are not employed or self-employed but you take part in the business of your self-employed spouse or civil partner you may be able to get MA for 14 weeks. The qualifying conditions for MA depend on the date your baby is due not the date your baby is actually born.
The week in which your baby is due is referred to as the EWC — expected week of childbirth. You do not pay income tax or NI contributions on Maternity Allowance.
The qualifying conditions for MA depend on your recent employment and earnings history. Because of this MA does not constitute public funds. If you think you may be entitled to MA , please read the following pages very carefully. You have to satisfy these rules in a test period. The test period is the period of 66 weeks up to and including the week before the week your baby is due. The 26 weeks do not have to be in a row and it does not matter how much you earn. You do not have to be actually physically at work to be employed or self-employed; you might be off work sick or have been on Statutory Maternity Leave for an earlier pregnancy for example.
To get MA your earnings, on average, must be at least equal to the Maternity Allowance Threshold MAT which applies at the beginning of your test period. If you have more than 1 employer, all earnings will count when working out the average.
Your earnings are averaged over any 13 weeks in your test period. The 13 weeks do not have to be in a row and you may choose the weeks with the most earnings to help you get more MA. Earnings from all your jobs if you have more than 1 and earnings you are treated as having from self-employment will be used to work out your average weekly earnings. If you are an employee the earnings rule is based on your gross earnings during your test period. Gross earnings are your earnings before any deductions and may include:.
If you are paid at intervals which are not an exact number of weeks for example, monthly , Jobcentre Plus will work out your weekly earnings from your payslips. For example, the earnings in a month will be divided by the number of whole weeks in that month to reach a weekly gross earnings figure. If you are part of a salary sacrifice scheme this will mean that you have voluntarily under your contract given up the right to some of your earnings in return for benefits from your employer eg childcare vouchers.
MA will be assessed on those lower contractual earnings that is, no account will be taken of the salary you have given up or the value of the benefit you receive in its place.
This may reduce your entitlement to MA or may mean that you will not be entitled to MA as your average earnings may fall below the MAT. If you are a student in receipt of a bursary, your bursary is not treated as earnings for MA purposes.
If you are self-employed and do not have a small earnings exception certificate, for any week covered by a Class 2 NI contribution you will be treated as having enough earnings to result in the standard rate of MA , payable at the end of the week covered by a Class 2 NI contribution for any week up to 11 April This means that:.
If you are self-employed and hold a small earnings exception certificate, you will be treated as having earnings equal to the MAT at the end of any week covered by your certificate. This applies even if you pay a class 2 NI contribution for a week which is also covered by the certificate.
Send this certificate in with your MA claim form. If you are employed and self-employed, earnings from your employment and earnings you are treated as having from self-employment can be added together to help you get as much MA as you can up to a maximum of the standard rate. If you have paid your Class 2 NICs based on submission of your Self Assessment or early through the exceptions process which covers 13 weeks in your test period you will be treated as having earnings resulting in the payment of the standard rate of MA.
If you satisfy the employment rule and the earnings rule, you will be entitled to MA for a maximum period of 39 weeks. The amount you get depends on your gross average weekly earnings. If you have paid Class 2 NI contributions at the end of each week in your 13 week earnings period, you will be treated as having enough earnings to receive standard rate MA. These payment requests are sent out every 26 weeks in arrears. The last six monthly payment request will be issued in April and May to cover the period of self-employment ending 11 April The due payment date is 31 July and to satisfy the MA rules you may need to pay before the due date.
If payment has to be made early under the exceptions process, HMRC will issue a Class 2 NICs payment request to cover the number of weeks that need to be paid in order to qualify for the standard rate of MA. You may be able to claim MA once you have been released. If your SMP stops because you have started work for an employer who did not employ you in your qualifying week and you subsequently stop work, you may be able to claim MA. Your employer must give you form SMP1, telling you why your SMP has stopped, together with your maternity certificate form MATB1 or any other medical evidence that you have given him or her.
You will need both forms to claim MA. If you are not employed or self-employed and your baby is due on or after 27 July and you take part in the business of your self-employed spouse or civil partner you may be able to get MA for 14 weeks. To be eligible you must satisfy the qualifying conditions in your test period. The test period is the period of 66 weeks up to an including the week before the week your baby is due. If you satisfy the conditions, you will be entitled to MA for a maximum period of 14 weeks.
If your baby is due on or after 12 July , and your spouse or civil partner has not made sufficient payments of Class 2 NICs to entitle you to receive MA , Jobcentre Plus may need to contact them:. If you do not consent to Jobcentre Plus contacting them about your MA claim to explain how they can make payments of their Class 2 NICs, or if you or your spouse or civil partner do not give consent then this may result in Jobcentre Plus being unable to pay MA to you.
You may not be able to get MA or will stop getting it if you were initially entitled to it if:. If you cannot get MA , you may be able to get Employment and Support Allowance ESA for 6 weeks before the week your baby is due for 14 days after the date on which your baby is born.
You can claim MA when you reach the 14th week before the week in which your baby is due the 27th week of pregnancy. If you have speech or hearing difficulties you can contact Jobcentre Plus using a textphone on 48 More information about Maternity Allowance. You can also get a MA claim pack from your maternity clinic or child health clinic. Do not delay your claim. If you claim more than 3 months after the date your Maternity Allowance Period MAP or your 14 week period is due to start, you will lose money.
Fill in claim form MA1 carefully. The information you give on the form will be used to calculate your entitlement to MA. Jobcentre Plus will carry out a series of checks on the information you supply. So it is important that the details you give are correct, or you might not get your correct entitlement. If you are in any doubt, say so. Do not sign and date the MA claim form earlier than the 14th week before the week in which your baby is due.
The information provided on the claim form must be correct at this time. If you date it earlier than this Jobcentre Plus will send the MA claim form back to you. When you have filled in the claim form, take it or send it to Jobcentre Plus together with medical evidence of when the baby is due and any other information required.
Send form MA1 to the address on the form. Claim as soon as you can, even if you are still at work or if you do not have the medical evidence needed, or cannot provide any other information needed to complete the claim form. You can send that later but explain in the claim form why you cannot give all the information needed. You must provide Jobcentre Plus with medical evidence of the date your baby is due.
Your doctor or midwife will give you a maternity certificate form MATB1 after you reach the 20th week before the week in which your baby is due the 21st week of pregnancy. It cannot be given to you any sooner. Your midwife will usually give you this at your next antenatal appointment from the 21st week of your pregnancy. You must send us original payslips for the 13 week period you have chosen from your test period.
Send them to Jobcentre Plus with your MA1 claim form. Your claim may be delayed if you do not send proof of earnings. Job role No Content This field is required. Job title.
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Breadcrumbs Home Advice Contracts, hours and pay Pay and wages. This limit does not apply to your final pay if you leave your job. What happens if you're overpaid Your employer has the right to claim back money if they've overpaid you. If the overpayment was a long time ago, or overpayments have been going on for several weeks or months, your employer should: be flexible and fair claiming the money back agree a repayment plan with you if needed Speak to an Acas adviser to discuss your options if you: cannot agree a repayment plan believed you were being paid the correct amount and will struggle to pay the money back If you do not agree with a deduction If you disagree with a deduction you should first try to resolve it with your employer.
How far back you can claim If your employer only made one deduction, you need to make a claim to an employment tribunal within 3 months of the deduction. Get wages you're owed when your employer is insolvent If your employer is insolvent, you can contact the Redundancy Payment Service RPS to check if you can claim some or all of the money you're owed.
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