If an employee is not entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), they may be entitled to Maternity Allowance. DWP have updated their ‘Easy Read’ document on Maternity Allowance.
Note that this information applies to employers and employees in Great Britain.
When an employee does not qualify for SMP, the employer needs to complete form SMP1 to explain the reasons for non-entitlement. Commonly, this is because of:
- Failing to meet the service criterion (26 weeks into the 15th week before the week the baby is due); and / or
- Failing to meet the earnings criterion (where Average Weekly Earnings must be at or above the LEL for National Insurance)
Form SMP1 indicates to the employee that they may be entitled to Maternity Allowance, payable by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Whilst information about the Allowance is contained in the Gov.UK ‘Maternity benefits: detailed guide’, a better read for the employee is, perhaps, the Get help from Maternity Allowance guidance document that has just been updated. This easy read guide details:
- What Maternity Allowance is;
- Who can get it; and
- How to apply
For Bookkeepers
ICB suggests this information could be provided alongside the completed SMP1 when this is given to the employee who does not qualify for SMP.
In any event, it is useful reading as it explains;
- The ‘Test Period’ (the Maternity Allowance equivalent of the relevant period for SMP); and
- The earnings criterion within the Test Period
As above, the SMP1 and DWP referred to above relate to Great Britain and these do not apply in Northern Ireland where there is another form and department responsible for paying Maternity Allowance. However, aside from these differences, the concept of the Allowance and the Test Period is the same UK-wide.