Corporate Legal Services department of PwC to sets out rules on payment during maternity leave.

HR professionals and legal practitioners are generally well versed in the requirements surrounding maternity rights and maternity leave requests. They will also understand the difference between ordinary maternity leave (OML) and additional maternity leave (AML) and will be able to deal with the requirements regarding notification of maternity leave and return dates. Accordingly, for the purposes of this article, we will focus on the monetary aspects affecting maternity leave.

Maternity Pay
Once an employee has satisfied the requirements and qualifies for statutory maternity pay (SMP), that is that they have been continuously employed for at least 26 weeks prior to the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth and she has normal weekly earnings which are not less than the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL), they will be entitled to receive SMP for 39 weeks at the current rate of £124.88 per week.

During the first six weeks of maternity leave, an employee is entitled to be paid 90% of their average weekly earnings. For the remaining 33 weeks, the employee must be paid (as a minimum) the lower of:

* £124.88 per week, or
* 90% of their average weekly wages.

You can of course choose to pay the employee more generous maternity pay if you wish. The terms and conditions of any such payments, particularly relating to the requirement for the employee to return to work following the maternity leave should be clearly defined as part of a contractual policy or procedure.

Terms and Conditions During maternity Leave
During the entire statutory maternity leave period, an employee has the right to benefit from all the terms and conditions of her employment which would have applied had she been in work.The exception to this is terms relating to wages or salary. However, some typical terms and conditions that may continue include:
* gym membership;
* participation in share schemes;
* the use of a company car or mobile phone (save where it is provided for business use only);
* reimbursement of professional memberships.

Bonus entitlement will depend on the terms and conditions of the employee’s particular bonus scheme.

Keeping in Touch Days
If it is agreed that an employee is to use a KIT day, then the issue of payment should be agreed in advance. If the employee is receiving SMP and she works a KIT day, she should continue to receive her SMP for that week.

The situation alters when an employee has worked 10 KIT days in her SMP period. In this instance, she is not entitled to SMP for any week in which she works when she has already worked ten keeping in touch days.

The SMP pay can go towards any contractual pay you agree for the KIT day or alternatively, you can agree to pay her for the KIT day as well as providing the SMP. The latter is proving to be the most popular as it usually encourages the employee to avail of the work.

Contributions to an Occupational Pension Scheme (OPS)
If an employer operates and contributes to an OPS, they must carry on making their usual contributions:

* for the whole time an employee is on ordinary maternity leave;
* for any further period the employee is receiving any Statutory Maternity Pay or contractual maternity pay.

If the employee normally makes contributions to her pension scheme then she should continue to do so, based on the amount of maternity pay that she is getting.

Conclusions
As in most cases, if an employer is in doubt about the benefits an employee is entitled to, advice should be sought from a legal professional. This is especially so if you wish to introduce a bespoke scheme where certain behaviours, for instance a return to work within a specified period, are rewarded.