Smp

jilt

I've just processed the pay for a client for October, he always likes the monthly payslips early. One of the employees is starting maternity leave on the 27th October. Pay dates set for last day of each month on Moneysoft's payroll manager.

I've paid her basic pay up to the 26th and completed the calendar for SMP from the 27th. Haven't paid SMP for years and just want to check something that I know the employee is going to query but I don't have an answer for her

Moneysoft is saying:

SMP for period 27-31 October payable 30/11
SMP for November payable 30/11
SMP for December payable 31/12
SMP for 1-25 January payable 31/1
SMP 26-31 January payable 28/2
SMP 1-22 February payable 28/2
SMP 23-28 February payable 31/3
SMP 1-31 March payable 31/3

Can anyone explain why it does this please?

jamesm96

jilt wrote: »

I've just processed the pay for a client for October, he always likes the monthly payslips early. One of the employees is starting maternity leave on the 27th October. Pay dates set for last day of each month on Moneysoft's payroll manager.

I've paid her basic pay up to the 26th and completed the calendar for SMP from the 27th. Haven't paid SMP for years and just want to check something that I know the employee is going to query but I don't have an answer for her

Moneysoft is saying:

SMP for period 27-31 October payable 30/11
SMP for November payable 30/11
SMP for December payable 31/12
SMP for 1-25 January payable 31/1
SMP 26-31 January payable 28/2
SMP 1-22 February payable 28/2
SMP 23-28 February payable 31/3
SMP 1-31 March payable 31/3

Can anyone explain why it does this please?

I'm not an expert either, but is it because of the SMP weeks? if her first SMP weeks ends on the 31st October then this falls in the SMP week ended 3 November (SMP weeks end on a Saturday), which is in the payroll month ended 30 November?

Just a guess.

jilt

Thanks James that's something I hadn't thought of. Are you sure an SMP week doesn't start on a Saturday and end on a Friday as the 27/10, 26/1 and 23/2 are all Saturdays, and the Fridays fall in the following month so that would fall in line with what you said. I've had a quick look on google but haven't found anything as yet but I'll keep trying

Thanks again

Dcollins

Happened to one of mine too. It's because SMP is a weekly payment and the period at the end of October runs into November.

If you look at the calendar on Moneysoft there will be a little black vertical line at the month end date, and any days after that will be paid next month. If you click on settings in the calendar you can check that the correct working day week is set up.

Be prepared for questions about why pay is different some months too, ie. 4 week months and 5 week months.

jamesm96

The qualifying week is the 15th week before the week in which your baby is due. The definition of a week for the qualifying week is a period of 7 days that begins at midnight between Saturday and Sunday.

From: DWP website

You're right, it doesn't actually quite work because the first day is a Saturday, but still, it might work as a good enough explanation to the client, lol!

Mike.

jilt

Thanks Mike, I've emailed the payslips and yes I have used that as my explanation. Fingers crossed.

coojee

I'm confused now. I pay my staff on a calendar monthly basis. When they go on SMP I use the HMRC SMP calculator and select the option for paying calendar monthly and it gives me a list of all the payments that are due over the course of the SMP period, it works it out on a daily basis not weekly. So it takes the total SMP due and divides it by the number of days (after allowing for the first 6 weeks). In October you'd get 31 days but in February you'd only get 28 days etc. So if they had started SMP on 27th Oct they'd get 5 days of SMP in their October pay. I seem to be the only person who does it this way though as a payroll bureau that I used once had never heard of it before. It must be a recognised way of it doing it if it's on HMRC's calculator though? Does anyone else do SMP this way?