Maternity, paternity, adoption, sickness

In this section:

Statutory Maternity Pay: an overview

If your employee is expecting a baby, she may be entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP). This replaces her normal earnings to help her take time off around the time of the birth. She also has a statutory right to a minimum amount of maternity leave.

Whether you have to pay SMP to an expectant employee depends on how long they've worked for you and how much they earn. They'll have to provide you with evidence of when the baby's due and give you notice of when they want you to start paying their SMP.

Payments of SMP count as earnings. You must deduct tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) from them in the usual way.

You'll normally be able to recover some or all of the SMP you pay.

On this page:

SMP eligibility and rates - overview
If an employee doesn't qualify for SMP
Paying and recovering Statutory Maternity Pay
SMP forms and records
If an employee disagrees with your SMP decision
Help and advice
More useful links

SMP eligibility and rates - overview

An employee who is expecting a baby has the right to 26 weeks of 'Ordinary Maternity Leave' and 26 weeks 'Additional Maternity Leave' - making one year in total. As long as they give you proper notice they can take this no matter how long they've worked for you, how many hours they work or how much they're paid.

But you only have to pay them SMP if they meet certain conditions. They must have:

worked for you continuously - full or part-time - for at least 26 weeks up to and into the 15th week before the week the baby's due
average earnings at least equal to the lower earnings limit for NICs - £95 a week or £412 a month for 2009-10
given you the right paperwork confirming the pregnancy and sufficient notice of when they would like the SMP payments to start

SMP rates

For the first six weeks you must pay your employee SMP at the rate of 90 per cent of their average weekly earnings.

For the next 33 weeks you must pay them the lower of the following:

£123.06 - from 6 April 2009
90 per cent of their average weekly earnings

If your total National Insurance payments are £45,000 a year or less, you'll be able to recover 104.5 per cent of the SMP you have to pay. This is to compensate you for the employer's NICs you have to pay on the SMP.

If your total National Insurance payments are more than £45,000 a year you can recover 92 per cent of the SMP you have to pay.

You can recover SMP by deducting it from your monthly PAYE (Pay As You Earn) payments. Or you can ask HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for funding in advance.

Download a flowchart illustrating when you must pay SMP (PDF 44K)

Get help with statutory payments funding

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If an employee doesn't qualify for SMP

If your employee doesn't qualify for SMP you must give them form SMP1, 'Why I cannot pay you SMP'. They might be able to claim Maternity Allowance instead. They can find out more about claiming Maternity Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Information for employees on Maternity Allowance on the Directgov website

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Paying and recovering SMP

HMRC’s guide on dealing with calculating and recovering SMP explains in detail how to calculate, pay and recover statutory pay. There’s a link to it at the end of this section.

If you use payroll software, it will help you decide if SMP is due and do most of the calculations for you. Or you can use HMRC’s free SMP calculator on your Employer CD-ROM or on the HMRC website. This will:

tell you if your employee's entitled to be paid SMP
work out how much SMP is due
work out how much SMP you can recover - including compensation, if you're entitled to it

Find out about calculating and recovering SMP

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SMP forms and records

You'll need a number of forms when dealing with SMP.

Form MAT B1 Maternity Certificate

Your employee gives you this form to confirm that they're expecting a baby. It's signed by a doctor or midwife who'll give it to your employee after the 20th week of pregnancy. You mustn't pay SMP unless you get this form or similar evidence of pregnancy from your employee.

Form SMP1 Why I cannot pay you SMP

If you decide that your employee isn't entitled to be paid SMP, you must tell them about your decision. You should do this using form SMP1.

Form SMP2 Statutory Maternity Pay record sheet

You'll need to keep a record of SMP payments - this form is designed to help you do this.

You can use your own version of any of the above forms - except form MAT B1.

You can download forms SMP1 and SMP2 below. You can also get copies of all HMRC maternity forms from:

your Employer CD-ROM
HMRC’s employer email or telephone orderline

Get form SMP1

Get form SMP2

Place an online or telephone order through the Employer Orderline

Record keeping

The records you'll need to keep include:

evidence of pregnancy - form MAT B1, or a copy if you handed it back with form SMP1
the payment dates and amount paid - use form SMP2
the date the pay period began
any weeks in the 39 week period when SMP wasn't paid and the reason why

As well as recording payments on SMP2, you must also use the following to keep records of the payments of SMP you make and the amounts you recover:

form P11 or an equivalent employee payroll record (either electronic or paper) – if you’re using a paper form P11 complete column 1h and include the SMP in gross pay in column 2 for each week or month that you pay SMP
form P14 End of Year Summary - you only have to show the SMP paid to each employee in months when you recovered some or all of it
form P35 Employer Annual Return - you only have to show the total amount of SMP recovered in the year and any amount of NICs compensation you received

Remember that almost all employers are now required to file their Employer Annual Return (P35 and P14s) online to HMRC. For more information, including details of the exemptions that apply, follow the link below.

If you use the Simplified Deduction Scheme for domestic employees there are different forms to use:

P12 Simplified Deduction Card - if you're recovering some or all of the SMP, record all the payments of SMP you make to your employee each week or month
P37 Employer Annual Return

You must keep all these records for at least three years after the end of the tax year to which they relate.

You can find out more about the forms you'll need for dealing with SMP and about using your own forms in the E15, ‘Employer Helpbook for Statutory Maternity Pay’. You'll also find information on record keeping in Employer Helpbook E15.

Read E15, ‘Employer Helpbook for Statutory Maternity Pay'

Introductory guidance on completing form P11

Find out about completing forms P14 and P35

More about the Simplified Deduction Scheme

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If an employee disagrees with your SMP decision

You may decide that your employee isn't entitled to SMP. You must explain the reason for your decision to your employee. You can do this using form SMP1. Make a copy of the evidence of pregnancy - form MAT B1 - and give the original back to your employee.

If your employee doesn't agree with you, they've got the right to ask you for a written statement showing:

the days - if any - for which you think you should pay SMP
how much SMP you think your employee is entitled to
why you don't think you should pay SMP for other days in the pay period

Your employee can ask for a written statement at any time. If the request is reasonable you must give them the statement within a reasonable time - for example, within seven days of being asked for it.

If you and your employee can't agree how much SMP you should pay you can ask HMRC for guidance. You'll find the phone number to call in 'Help and advice' below. Your employee can also ask HMRC for a decision if you can't agree.

Get form SMP1

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Help and advice

You can find quick answers to the most commonly asked questions about SMP by following the link below.

Quick answers to common questions on SMP

If you still can't find what you need, you can ask a question through HMRC’s email query service.

Use the SMP email query service

Alternatively you can get advice from HMRC’s Employer Helpline on Tel 08457 143 143 (open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm from Monday to Friday and from 8.00 am to 5.00 pm on Saturday and Sunday).

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SMP - more useful links

To find out how to calculate and recover SMP read our related guide below or you can link to our helpbook E15 for more detail on all aspects of SMP.

Calculating and recovering SMP

Read helpbook E15, 'Pay and time off work for parents'

If you're not sure what leave, pay and other benefits your employee is entitled to, there's an interactive tool on the Businesslink website that can help you make the right decisions. By answering a few simple questions, you'll get a clear idea of your responsibilities and some best practice guidance.

Managing new and expectant mothers in your workplace – use the Business Link interactive tool

You can also get information about maternity rights for employers and employees from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) website.

Get information on maternity rights for employers and employees

New guidance, published in May 2008, looks at what impacts salary sacrifice arrangements have on SMP and at what non-cash benefits employers should provide to their employees during statutory maternity leave. Follow the link to find out more.

Find out about the impact of salary sacrifice arrangements on SMP (PDF 135K).

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