Maternity pay is a statutory calculation, which as an employer you have to get right. Use our maternity pay calculator to make life easier and calculate statutory maternity pay mistake-free.
Download this Maternity Pay Calculator
Download a free spreadsheet version of this SMP calculator. Note that this calculator is for the amount that employer must pay. If you want to calculate whether an employee is entitled to receiving it, and under what condiitions use this maternity leave calculator.
Download Statutory Maternity Pay calculation excel file
Types of maternity pay
There are three types of maternity pay:
- Statutory maternity pay is what most employees get as their legal minimum.
- Contractual maternity pay is defined in the employer’s maternity leave policy and is often higher than the statutory pay.
- Maternity allowance is paid by the government to self-employed and employees who are not eligible for maternity pay.
Maternity pay qualifying period
An employee is entitled to statutory maternity pay if:
- She worked for the employer during the 15th week (the qualifying week) before the baby is due and worked for a minimum of 26 weeks before that. Effectively, if she has been employed for 41 weeks before the due date.
- Her average weekly pay over the 8 weeks before the qualifying week was higher than £123.
How to use the statutory maternity pay calculator
Choose the employment start date
The date when the employee commenced her employment. This is to check whether the employee has worked enough (i.e. continuously for at least 26 weeks before the qualifying week).
Set the expected due date
This is to get the expected week of childbirth (EWC) which is used to get the qualifying week (i.e. the 15th week before EWC).
Chose the maternity leave date
This is used to help you in order to calculate the last day of full pay and the first day of maternity pay. This is because the first payday after the employee goes on maternity leave may combine her standard salary and maternity pay.
Determine date of last payslip
In order for us to produce a payment calendar, we need to know a day you regularly paid your employee. If the last payslip happened on an irregular payday, insert a regular payday so that we will be able to create a more accurate payment schedule breakdown.
Determine average weekly earnings
You need to calculate the average weekly earnings over the 8 weeks prior to the final payday before the end of the qualifying week. For the first 6 weeks, you need to pay 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, while for the remaining 33 weeks you will need to pay the minimum between £172.48 per week and 90% of the employee’s weekly earnings.
Calculate maternity allowance
If you are self-employed or you cannot receive statutory maternity pay, you can still receive maternity allowance from the government which goes from £27 to £172.48 a week for 39 weeks. This will depend on how long you have been registered with HMRC and how much Class 2 National Insurance contributions you have paid. If you want to increase the amount of allowance you receive, you can opt to pay more Class 2 National Insurance contribution. You can read more about maternity allowance at the following link .
FAQ
When can an employee can start taking SMP?
SMP usually starts when the employee starts her maternity leave, which can be as early as 11 weeks before the expected the due date. SMP automatically triggers if the employee was sick the month before the due date and if the employee is entitled to SMP.
Is maternity pay taxable?
Yes, maternity pay is taxed as a normal wage as well as eligible for National Insurance deductions.
Find this maternity pay calculator useful?
Check out our maternity leave calculator article where you can read how maternity leave dates are determined.