If you’ve ever been on maternity leave, you could be owed thousands by your employer

If you’ve ever been on maternity leave, you’ll know that before heading off, it’s often a mad dash to make sure everything’s in hand.

But one tiny loophole could mean your employer actually owes you money – and it’s all to do with the world of pensions.

While you’re on maternity leave, your workplace should continue to match the same pension contributions as if you were in full-time work – even if your salary is lower.

Statutory Maternity Pay is paid for up to 39 weeks and includes 90% of average weekly earnings (before tax) for the first six weeks.

For the subsequent 33 weeks, you’ll be entitled to either £184.03 per week or 90% of your average weekly earnings – whichever is the lower figure, according to the Gov UK website.

As per reports in Sky News, employees could be missing ‘thousands’ of pounds from their pension pots, with women who spoke exclusively to the publication reporting shortages ranging from ‘a few hundred’ to up to £4,000.

And, as advocacy group Nugget Savings added, out of the 236 women they contacted about their pension contributions while they were on maternity leave, more than 100 identified ‘discrepancies.’

‘In the UK, workplace pension rules mean that while an employee is on maternity leave, their employer must keep making pension contributions as if they were still earning their full salary,’ Fiona Peake, personal finance expert at Ocean Finance, tells Metro.

‘This applies for the period of paid maternity leave (usually 39 weeks if the employee qualifies for Statutory Maternity Pay or contractual maternity pay).

‘The employee’s own contributions, however, are based on what they’re actually earning during maternity leave.

‘Since Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) drops after the first six weeks, this means the employee’s pension contributions could be much lower, but the employer still has to pay in based on their normal salary.’

How to check you received the correct maternity pay

If you notice that your pension contributions were matched to your maternity pay rather than your pre-maternity salary, Fiona says you could:

1. ‘Check your contract and workplace pension policy. This will confirm what was agreed regarding pension payments during maternity leave.
2. ‘Speak to HR or payroll. Mistakes happen, and a quick conversation could get things corrected without too much hassle.
3. ‘Raise a formal complaint. If HR doesn’t sort it out, employees can submit a written complaint outlining the issue and referring to the pension rules.
4. ‘Get external advice. If the issue isn’t resolved, they can speak to a union (if they’re a member) or get free advice from organisations like ACAS or MoneyHelper.’

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