All employed women have an entitlement to a total of 52 weeks of maternity leave. This is regardless of their length of service. They don’t need to qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) to be able to take maternity leave.

If the employee meets all qualifying conditions, you’re obliged to pay the statutory rate of SMP. You can pay any further wages on top of the statutory pay. This will depend on the employee’s contract of employment. You’re under no statutory obligation to pay anything further.

• 6 weeks at the higher rate, which is 90% of the employee’s Average Weekly Earnings (AWE)
• £172.48 a week or 90% of their AWE for the next 33 weeks, whichever is lower

The AWE calculates using the employee earnings. It uses the period over the eight weeks before the qualifying week. This includes all payments subject to NI, not only their basic salary. Payroll calculates for you based on the information you enter into the system.

For further support in calculating SMP you can use HMRC's online calculator (opens in a new window).

You can find further information from HMRC (opens in a new window).

 TIP: Payroll calculates SMP in whole weeks only, from the leave start date. For example, the leave starts on Wednesday. The week would be from Wednesday to the following Tuesday. 

Employee doesn't have enough history

Sometimes, there's no history to calculate the Average Weekly Earnings (AWE). If you have moved to a new payroll system recently, for example.

You will have to calculate the AWE yourself and override the system-calculated figure.

For instructions on how to do this:

• Read our article Recording Statutory Maternity Pay (opens in new tab). Look at the section Override AWE. 

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