Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) Calculator — UK 2026/27

To qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay, an employee must have worked for you continuously for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before their expected week of childbirth — known as the Qualifying Week. They must also be earning at or above the Lower Earnings Limit for National Insurance purposes, which is £123 per week for 2026/27. If an employee does not qualify for SMP because they have not met the continuity of employment test, they may still be eligible for Maternity Allowance, which is paid directly by the Department for Work and Pensions rather than through the employer. You should issue a form SMP1 to any employee who does not qualify so they can make a claim for Maternity Allowance instead.

SMP is paid for up to 39 weeks. For the first six weeks, you pay 90% of the employee's average weekly earnings with no upper cap. For the remaining 33 weeks, you pay the lower of either 90% of average weekly earnings or the statutory flat rate, which is set by HMRC each April. For 2025/26 this was £184.03 per week — the 2026/27 rate is confirmed by HMRC ahead of the new tax year. Average weekly earnings are calculated using the employee's gross pay in the eight weeks immediately before the Qualifying Week. SMP is subject to Income Tax and National Insurance in the same way as normal pay, and must be processed through your payroll.

Small Employer Relief (SER) allows smaller employers to recover 103% of SMP paid — meaning you get back everything you paid out plus an extra 3% to help cover the administrative cost of processing maternity pay. To qualify, your total employer National Insurance liability in the previous tax year must have been £45,000 or less. If your NI liability exceeded £45,000, you are not eligible for SER but can still recover 92% of SMP paid from HMRC. Recovery is made by reducing your PAYE and NI payments to HMRC rather than claiming a separate refund. If SMP paid in a given month exceeds your PAYE liability, HMRC will issue a refund directly.

Yes — your employer pension obligations continue throughout the entire maternity leave period, not just while SMP is being paid. During the first 26 weeks of Ordinary Maternity Leave and the following 26 weeks of Additional Maternity Leave, the employee is entitled to all their contractual benefits except normal pay. This includes pension contributions. Your employer contribution must continue to be calculated based on the employee's normal salary, not the reduced SMP amount, unless the scheme rules state otherwise. The employee's own pension contributions are typically calculated on the SMP they actually receive, but this depends on the pension scheme rules and whether it is a salary sacrifice arrangement. It is important to check the specific terms of your pension scheme with your provider.

An employee can return to work at any point after the compulsory maternity leave period — which is the two weeks immediately after birth (four weeks for factory workers). If they return to work before their 39-week SMP entitlement is used up, SMP payments stop from the date of return. The employee cannot carry forward unused SMP or receive it as a lump sum. However, they can use Keeping in Touch (KIT) days — up to ten days of work during maternity leave — without losing their SMP entitlement for that week, providing both employer and employee agree. KIT days can be useful for training, meetings, or a phased handover, and the employee is paid normally for KIT days worked on top of any SMP due.