MY CIPP
The CIPP's Advisory Service team provides answers to popular questions
Q: If an employee has more than one child placed with them through adoption and under separate/different arrangements, will this affect their entitlement to statutory adoption pay (SAP) and leave? A: The payments for SAP depend on whether the adoption of more than one child is in relation to the same arrangement or different arrangements. If the adoptions are part of the same arrangement and matching certificate, then there would only be one entitlement to SAP. If they are part of separate arrangements with separate matching certificates, then they will need to be treated separately for SAP purposes and the adopter could potentially be entitled to two payments of SAP. The entitlement to leave and pay are treated differently in these instances. Provided the employee meets the criteria for leave, then they would be eligible for another entitlement of 52 weeks. The leave would not run simultaneously, the first entitlement would cease as the second entitlement begins. For the purposes of paying the employee, unlike the entitlement to leave, the first adoption’s entitlement to SAP would not stop due to the entitlement to SAP under the second. In fact, the employee would continue receiving SAP under the first entitlement, if they were eligible, and begin payments under the second when their leave begins. It would be important to assess whether the employee would be eligible for the second adoption payment and this would be performed against the normal criteria on the Gov.uk website. Q: We have an employee who is pregnant. Her due date was 1 July 2020, and she agreed her maternity start date as 10 July 2020. On 20 July 2020, she wrote to us to explain that she had given birth on 19 July and would therefore like to start her
maternity on 20 July. Is this allowed? A: An employee wishing to change the start date of her maternity leave, must give the employer 28 days’ notice, or agree a new date. The start date of 10 July 2020 appears to have been agreed between the employer and employee and would therefore be allowed. But the latest change to 20 July would not be allowed as the employee had already started her maternity leave on 10 July. The employer should always be notified of the date the employee expects her statutory maternity pay (SMP) to begin. Notice must be given at least 28 days before the SMP is due to start. Statutory maternity leave (SML) should start on one of the following: ● eleven weeks before the week the baby is due ● the first day after the birth if the baby is born early ● automatically if an employee is absent with a pregnancy related illness in the four weeks prior to the expected date ● on a chosen date between eleven weeks prior to the expected week of birth and the date of birth. Q: How do you pay and process statutory sick pay (SSP) for an employee where the qualifying days (QDs) are not clear, for example, zero hours workers? A: If there is a rota available for days that the employee should have worked then this would need to be used to establish the QDs. If there is no rota available, then there must be at least one QD each week. If the employer and employee cannot agree the QDs, regulations provide for the QDs to be: ● the days on which the employer and
● a Wednesday, if there is/was no specified day of work, or ● every day of the week except those on which they agree that none of the workforce were required to work. This is prescribed under section 154 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 or section 150 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992. Q: An employee who is pregnant has handed in her notice after her qualifying week (QW) and is also going to work for another employer before giving birth. How does this affect the SMP we have to pay? A: If the employee starts work for another employer after the QW, but before the birth, then any employer liable to pay SMP to her does not have to pay SMP for any weeks she works for that other employer after the baby is born. One of the criteria for ceasing SMP as listed in the SMP1 form is that the employee has started working for another employer that did not employ her at the QW. Before the birth, the employee can work for the new employer and still receive SMP from the employer liable to pay SMP. When the employee leaves the ‘old’ employer SMP becomes payable on the earlier of the following: ● the Sunday of the eleventh week before the baby is due ● the day after the baby is born. However, if after the birth the employee goes back to work for a new employer with whom she was not employed at the QW, she must tell her old employer as SMP will cease. The old employer would issue form SMP1 with the exclusion reason that the employee started work for a new employer that did not employed her at the QW.
employee agree that the employee is/was required to work under the contract, or
Q: Are there any age limits for paying SSP?
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | November 2020 | Issue 65 8
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