Hi. I'm just trying to work out how much I'd get on SMP. I'm using the Gov website and it is giving an estimate but its before Tax etc. It says in bold 'This is an estimate, your employer will confirm if you qualify and how much you’ll get'. Has anyone had it confirmed by their employer how much they would be eligible for? I really think it would help to know from them as I'm rubbish with maths, tax, etc! Will they only bother to do this once I've confirmed my start date for it etc? Any advice welcome! Thanks.

Payroll should be able to work out what your tax deductions are likely to be. Ours can give fairly accurate numbers so if you send them the SMP amounts they should be able to work it out for you!

Is it dependent on what you earn? I have no idea Pep but mine is coming in at about £500 a month from what the HR lady told me!

It's the 6 weeks at 90% that's relevant for the calc isn't it? That depends on the earnings leading up to going on leave, but if your earnings are static it will be easy to do. After that presumably it's the standard SMP rate anyway. Pep, Your HR dept should give you all that info, or you can do this yourself if they aren't forthcoming, using HMRC site (or other net pay calc) and anticpated salary figs. I would be happy to help if you wanted to mail me the relevant numbers.

My work send out a breakdown of how much roughly ill get each month before deductions. It gives me a rough idea then of what to expect.

I get 90% for 6 weeks,then 12 weeks at 50%+ SMP, then the remainder on SMP.

Sorry I should have clarified that its £500 SMP on top of my 50% salary which is for around 6 months following the first 6 weeks at 90%.

Hey All. Thanks for the replies. Our payroll is outsourced as far as I'm aware so perhaps that is why no one has offered (even when I've pretty much asked) to help me work it all out! I'm so bad (and unconfident!) with maths, I keep coming out with different figures. I've tried using the Gov website but they aren't Tax based and I'm aware that will impact how much I actually 'clear' a month on SMP. I'm going to put my head into the calculator over the weekend and really try to work it out!

Counter - Thank you, that is very kind xx

Can't help much with the 90% of your pay but I only received basic SMP so after the 6 weeks it worked out at £615 per month-  because of  the time of year the £15 was tax I got back (confused me as I though I would just get a rebate but HR confirmed that's the way it's done)

LA- what time of year did you start mat leave?

I think because of when ill leave for maternity all my SMP will be eligible for tax! So after that and NI its about £80 a week :-|

Imp really sorry just seen this, I left end of October

Pep, it might help if you can tell us a ball park of your salary, when you go on ml and if you just get SMP. I am currently on SMP but getting all of it plus a little bit more due to, I think, being taxed on last years tax code for the first 6 months off, so too much, and now getting a rebate to take me up to the end if this financial year.

Thanks. I think I've managed to work it out. You get the £9440 'tax free' a year, anything over is taxed at 20%. Which means all my SMP from the Government will be taxed at that, as I'll of earned the tax free amount prior to taking my maternity leave within the 2014-2015 tax year. They should make it tax free! :(

But the tax deductions don't work like that, it's pro-rata'd as you go. The calcs assume you're going to go on and earn at the same rate in future periods, if your pay goes up/down so does your tax. At the end of the tax year you'll have paid the correct amount, but it will fluctuate through the year.