How do I add maternity pay?

Summary

The following article explains how to enter and keep track of an employee's statutory maternity pay.

If you are unsure whether to pay Statutory Maternity Pay, please refer to the information provided by HMRC explaining the rules governing statutory pay or visit the HMRC web site [1].

Please ensure your Platinum system has the correct recovery rate for Statutory pay as this can differ for small businesses. See How do I set my company HMRC details?.

More Information

Entering the Maternity Pay record

To allow the Payroll system to calculate SMP where applicable, the SMP/SAP/SPP flag on Page 3: Statutory Payments of the employee record, should be set to 'Yes', and obviously, the employee should be set up as female.

Please Note: When the system starts to pay Maternity Pay, you will have to zero out the Hours Worked/Basic Salary to ensure they only receive their Maternity Pay and any other additions/deductions from their pay.

Go to " Payroll Run Payroll Period".

Enter <Y> against the employee's pay frequency or click the [Down arrow] and select [Yes].
Click [OK] button to go into the payroll.
Choose the relevant employee and press <Ctrl+F8> to open the SMP/SAP/SPP/ASPP/ShPP Entry screen.
Click [Add] if they have existing records.
[Maternity] will be selected by default.

Within this [Details] tab, you will need to complete the relevant details for this record:

Date Baby Due

Enter the date the baby is due. (EWC stands for Expected Week of Confinement). The employee must have worked for you for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the baby is due. If the Payroll system warns you the employee has "NOT been employed for 26 Weeks" then it has calculated the number of weeks since the employee started and has worked out that they have not worked for you for long enough to qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay.

Qualifying Week

This will be calculated for you by the system. This date is 15 weeks before the date the baby is due. When you enter the average weekly earnings, this date will be used as a point of reference.

Average Weekly Earnings

Enter the employee's average weekly wage based on their pay over the 8 weeks prior to the Qualifying Week. This will be calculated for you but you may override it if necessary.

Date Baby Born

ONLY enter this date if the baby is born BEFORE the employee was intending to start Maternity Leave.

Maternity Leave Begins

This should be the first FULL day of absence from work.

These fields may be altered at a later date: See this article.

Medical Evidence?

To qualify for SMP, the employee must provide Medical Evidence of the EWC (Expected Week of Confinement).

<Y> - Yes, if Medical evidence has been provided
<N> - No, if no Medical evidence has been provided.

Pregnancy Related Illness?

Did the employee have to start Maternity Leave early due to a pregnancy related illness (within four weeks before the Expected Week of Confinement)?

<Y> - Yes, Maternity Leave had to start, BEFORE the employee was intending to, due to a pregnancy related illness.
<N> - No, the employee started Maternity Leave at the intended time.

SMP Entitlement section

When you have entered all the relevant details for the Maternity Pay record, the lower part of the screen will display the Maternity Pay Period and the amounts to be paid over this period. This is for information only and is not editable.

Press <Esc> and <Enter> to accept the record.

View the Maternity Diary

When a record has been created, you may view a weekly diary which shows the amount of Maternity Pay to be paid per week.

To view the details:

Go to " Payroll Run Payroll Period".

Enter <Y> against the employee's pay frequency or click the [Down arrow] and select [Yes].
Click [OK] button to go into the payroll.
Choose the relevant employee and press <Ctrl+F8> to open the SMP/SAP/SPP/ASPP/ShPP Entry screen.
Press [Edit] to open the relevant record.
Click on the [Diary] tab.

Week

This column lists the number of weeks of Maternity Pay.

End of MPP

This displays the weekly end date. Maternity pay cannot be paid in advance.

Status

This column allows you to designate a week to be unpaid/excluded from Maternity Pay, if it has not already been paid.

Select 'Worked' if an employee is not to be paid SMP for that week as they will have worked one or more days in this week and none or only some of them were KIT (Keeping in Touch) days. See this article.
Select 'Excluded' if the employee is excluded from a Maternity Pay Period for some other reason.

KIT

This column allows you to log the Keeping in Touch days that have been used. The number of days available will reduce by the value entered here.

SMP Paid

This column shows the amount of Maternity Pay which has been paid in each Maternity Pay period, where that period has been closed.

Total

This column shows a running total of SMP paid to the employee.

Notes

If the period has not been closed, you can enter any notes here to indicate why you have withheld SMP, e.g. 'Worked'.

Click [Done] and [Accept] to exit any changes.