The SMP Average Weekly Earnings (AWE) calculation must take into account pay rises awarded, or which would have been awarded, to an employee had she not been on maternity leave. That is, if the pay rise falls between the start of the relevant period for calculating SMP and the end of her statutory maternity leave.
- Navigate to the employee's Parental Payments form.
- Open the relevant Maternity Pay claim.
- Click the Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) tab.
- Click the Relevant Earnings button.
- Enter the Average Weekly Earnings to be used.
Note:
The system will show the qualifying period and the earnings that were used to calculate the SMP originally.
- Close these screens and calculate the payslip, any additional SMP due will be paid to the employee
Note:
The Alabaster calculation only affects the SMP payment to the employee for the first 6 weeks. The Relevant earnings should not be lower than the actual earnings used. For instance, if the employee initially gets a bonus in the qualifying period, this would take their average weekly above the new rate. And the new rate of pay would not be used. Where you are using Occupational Schemes and, for instance, you pay full pay in the first 6 weeks, you will see an increase in the SMP but a decrease in the OMP, as the Occupational Scheme will still only calculate to the employee's earnings of what they would have been in that period; not the new salary rate in a future period.
