PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Maternity Pay: Coronavirus (16 July 2020)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she intends to bring forward legislative proposals to protect the entitlement to Statutory Maternity Pay of people who received Statutory Sick Pay during their qualifying period where (a) they have a shielding letter and (b) their employer declined to use the Job Retention Scheme.

Asked by:
Mark Tami (Labour)

Statutory Sick Pay forms part of the average weekly earnings calculation carried out by employers to determine whether an employee qualifies for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), and if so, at what rate. This is because, for SMP purposes, pay is defined as gross pay due before any deductions. This includes sick pay (and other payments e.g. overtime, bonus payments, arrears of pay).

There are currently no plans to change the way that SSP is treated as part of the average weekly earnings calculation for SMP.

Answered by:
Mims Davies (Conservative)
22 July 2020