Statutory maternity pay

Was your bonus paid within the qualifying weeks? I had that with mine and as it’s averaged out the 6 weeks initial payment was higher as it took into account my bonus

@Steph no my bonus is paid in July so I didn’t add that in!

With how small septembers is, I wonder if it's combined the two into October's? As you get the 12 week full pay and 12 week half pay, that'll be easy for you to work out. So then it becomes the 15 remaining weeks at statutory payments which is around the 820ish mark give or take depending on how many weeks in the month. Not sure if that helps at all?

September may have a waiting period that gets rolled into october

Could it be that you’ve paid too much tax now and it’s a rebate? I had a month where I got more than expected and it was because I’d paid too much tax in the other months and it was repaid x

Is it assuming you pay tax at the 20% rate rather than 40%?

So on mine I got from work, it shows what I would get before tax, NI, pensions, student loans, etc. September won't show your whole months earnings as you don't start mat leave until towards the end of the month.

When in doubt, ask ChatGPT: ChatGPT said: Great question — this can definitely be a bit confusing, especially when enhanced maternity pay is involved alongside statutory maternity pay (SMP). Here's a breakdown of what might be going on based on what you've said and what’s shown in the screenshot: Key Facts: - Mat leave start date: 22 September 2025 - Pay day: 28th of each month - Annual salary: Just under £95,000 (roughly £7,916/month before tax) - Usual take-home: Around £5.4k/month - Enhanced mat pay policy: 12 weeks full pay, 12 weeks half pay, then SMP The October “£7,021.19” anomaly: This likely includes a combination of enhanced maternity pay and SMP for a longer-than-usual pay period. Your first pay packet after starting mat leave on 22 September would be on 28 September, and it would likely include: - Normal salary from 1–21 September - Start of enhanced maternity pay from 22–30 September

Then, on 28 October, you'd be paid: - Enhanced maternity pay for the full month of October (most likely full pay, as it's still within the first 12 weeks) - Possibly some SMP or overlap calculated into that - Tax/NI adjustments may not have caught up or been estimated differently in the tool The government SMP calculator doesn’t account for enhanced policies — so it might simply be applying both full SMP and some salary or averaging across weeks in a way that appears higher. Why it could show £7k in October: - You’re still receiving full pay (via your employer) under your enhanced maternity policy — so that’s your gross salary for the month. - The calculator doesn’t deduct tax, so it’s showing a gross amount rather than your net take-home. - There may also be some overlap or lump sum catch-up of SMP depending on how they’ve prorated the weeks. What to do: Speak to your HR/payroll team — they can clarify how your employer pays enhanced vs SMP.

Keep in mind that the gov SMP tool only gives you the statutory part — your actual employer may “top up” or structure things differently.

It might be that you get a tax rebate. I did while I was on my mat leave when HMRC saw my earnings were lower than they were expecting. X

Pretty sure whatever the case you will survive 😂

Thanks all. I think it might be because the figures don’t show tax deductions etc so the £7k in Oct is 90% of my normal salary (before tax!). Just seem peculiar but makes more sense now! Thanks everyone :)

@Gemma hey, I have bills and a mortgage to pay so is still a big hit for me. It’s all relative. I also wasn’t complaining- I was just asking about what seemed to be an anomaly in Oct.

@Gemma genuinely puzzled. Sorry my salary and personal situation seems to have caused some jealousy for you 🤷🏽‍♀️. Women supporting women hey 🙄

The £7k showing in your October maternity pay could be due to your September pay being processed alongside the full maternity pay for October. Since you start maternity leave on 22 September, your October pay might include the remaining days of September along with the full month of maternity pay for October. Also, tax or National Insurance adjustments could be adding to the total, especially if there's been a tax overpayment earlier. To be sure, check with HR or payroll to confirm how they’re processing your pay

instead of having your pay gradually reduce while your on Mat leave, why not request for your pay to be split equally over each month, that’s what I did. Then SMP will go on top of that as well.

I don't have an answer but do you have a link for where you did this calc? I haven't found anything on how to do it

The first 6 weeks you get 90% of your normal full pay, only after that does it drop to traditional SMP rates. SMP is often calculated in full weeks, so you will get 1 week at 90% in Sept, 5 weeks at 90% in Oct, and 1 week at 90% in Nov (plus I'm Nov you will get the standard weekly SMP).

@Rashelle that’s a really good idea. I didn’t know you could do this

@Claire sure https://www.gov.uk/maternity-paternity-calculator xx

@Claire I just typed in ‘maternity leave calculator’ after seeing this post and it came straight up! Make sure it’s the .gov one. It says you can only calculate it 15 weeks before the baby is due, so around 25 weeks pregnant.