Advice re childcare vouchers during maternity leave...

[EmmaCC]

I remember reading a thread on this issue before and just wondered what other peoples experience had been..

I'm about to go on maternity leave and currently pay ?243 out via a salary sacrifice scheme which goes towards my daughter's nuresery fees.

I think there was some suggestion on a previous thread that if (like me) you are only going to be paid SMP then your employers have to continue making the ?243 contribution for you each month. Maybe I am mis-remembering this as it seems too good to be true but I have a meeting with HR next week about my maternity leave and if it's right then I'd like to be able to argue the point... I think my boss will have a heart attack at the suggestion of it!

Would love to hear any thoughts on this...

[Vanessa3]

Hi EmmaCC, I am not a HR professional, but I believe this is correct. While you are on maternity leave, you continue to accrue all benefits you receive as part of your package (such as car allowance, travel allowance, health allowance etc) including childcare vouchers if you currently accrue them. You have the option of cancelling them, however legally you are entitled to still receive them as your employer cannot take away a benefit from you while you are on mat leave. As you will not be receiving a salary, there is no way for your employer to recover the cost from you, so your employer is effectively contributing on your behalf. When I discussed this with my HR department, we joked that this would just about cover the childcare cost for the KIT days I am planning to work during my mat leave!

[ang]

Hi I agree with what Vanessa has written. I'm on mat leave and still receiving the child care vouchers as described

Good luck with HR !

[alieh]

Wow. I never would have guessed that would be the case. I'll be talking to my HR about this before I go on leave in Feb!

[jrthomas_uk]

This sounds too good to be true!

Is there any website that I can look at to clarify when an employee is entitled to retain the childcare vouchers?

I was under the impression that if you contributed to the vouchers yourself via salary self sacrifice and it wasn't part of your salary package eg as a company car might be, then you could not expect your employer to continue making payments for you. You could carry on payment for the vouchers but it would come out of your SMP.

When I go on maternity leave next year I will receive a 6 week bonus and then drop to SMP, does anyone know if I am eligible to apply for continuation of the vouchers at my employer's expense?

[njc97]

JRT - see page 13 of this

Excerpt:

What must the employer continue to provide to a woman when she is on statutory maternity leave, as a result of these changes to maternity leave legislation?

These non-cash benefits are what she is entitled to under her contract of employment, apart from sums payable by way of monetary wages or salary. These non-cash entitlements would include:

o non-cash vouchers, such as childcare vouchers which can only be used by the employee for qualifying childcare and are not transferable;

The converse is that for the first 6 weeks SMP (when you receive 90% of your average wages), those "average wages" do not include the bit of salary you have sacrificed in return for the childcare vouchers. Some employers will make up this difference but they don't have to.

[jrthomas_uk]

Thanks njc,

I will take a look at the link although one more question, when I receive my SMP through work are they entitled to deduct the cost of the vouchers from this amount? Or are they not allowed to deduct anything from SMP?

Are they obliged to pay the cost of the vouchers only when I do not receive any SMP, ie in the last 13 weeks?

[jac428]

Typically for the first 6 weeks an employee is still responsible to pay for the vouchers. After this period if you are only receiving SMP or unpaid maternity leave, your employer is required to contribute on your behalf. If you have other flexible benefits (e.g. pension contributions), these must also continue while you are on maternity leave.

[jrthomas_uk]

Brilliant! Not sure my employer will agree though...

[busymum]

yes you are correct. I started that thread. they only have to pay it for you whilst you're on SML and pay , if you are receiving any other pay they will deduct it in the usual way. it works out to be extra ?2k hurray!

[busymum]

ps they will be breaking the law if they do not agree

[charlottep]

i'm on mat leave currently and am now earning SMP only (have been for the last 2 months). my vouchers are still being provided by my company, which i'm very pleased about. i remember reading busymum's thread a while ago and it was for that reason that i made sure to stay enrolled in the scheme.

Many thanks busymum!

[EmmaCC]

Thanks so much for the info...I can't wait to raise it with my employer and see what he says. I work as a solicitor in a small but national law firm and will be interesting to see whether the partners at my practice feel they are breaking the law if they don't agree to it. It's going to be an interesting conversation...my boss employs mainly women in their 20s and 30s and I have often felt annoyed at the lack of any kind of maternity policy other than the statutory...I actually get on very well with him but he's notoriously tight so I know he'll be fuming at the thought of this!

[Vickster]

This is news to me, and very welcome! Emma, I also work at a law firm, and have just checked our maternity policy which is silent on this point, so I too will be having an interesting conversation with HR!

[njc97]

jrt - you never have to pay for the vouchers. Assuming your employer only gives you the statutory minimum, in the first 6 weeks they give you 90% of your average pay - this is your pay after the bit you sacrifice for the vouchers. After that you will receive the SMP amount (without decuctions) and in the last 13 weeks you will receive nothing (but still get the vouchers).

This also applies to any other benefits you receive via salary sacrifice, e.g. pension contributions, bike to work etc. They have to provide all your benefits other than pay (e.g. health insurance, death in service insurance etc)

As busymum etc point out, this is a statutory right. If they try not to give it to you (or to deduct the cost when they shouldn't) then they are breaking the law.

[tor]

Another Mum here who got #243 a month throughout my 12 month maternity leave..it doesn't seem right but it's the law.

I don't think I would have got it unless I asked though ...

[Fidgetsmum]

I just had exactly this confirmed by my HR department. They legally cannot take funds out of your SMP.

[nikki73]

Apologies for reviving an old thread but I am having some problems with my pay and salary sacrifice for childcare vouchers. I haven't doublechecked but I am pretty sure 243 where taken out of my SMP every month. I then went on to unpaid leave for a couple of months. I returned to work in October. To my shock and horror I was charged ?1200 for childcare vouchers in December. I can only think that they are backdating to mid July when my SMP ended. Can they do this and should I try recouping the deductions made during the 3 months where I was on SMP? Any arguments I can put forward. Quite uneasy about it all because my head is also the head of HR and loads of redundancies are to be announced. thanks for any tips

[busymum]

hi they can't do that! otherwise my employer would have for sure! they cannot legally take deductions from SMP and they can't screw you for the entire amount when you get back to work. have you got a union? they can provide free legal advice on this sort of thing, hope you get it sorted.

[njc97]

Nikki - it's complicated, was it definitely SMP they were taking it from? That's definitely illegal - from the doc I linked to above "It is not correct to make deductions from SMP to reflect salary sacrifice arrangements."

Also they cannot "charge" you for anything. You signed an agreement to reduce your salary. Clearly your salary cannot go below zero, so they cannot take money from your for that unpaid period.

I don't think it's uncommon for companies to get this sort of thing wrong, I would have thought that a polite raising of this with relevant department would get it sorted. And I wouldn't have thought that your boss would look unfavourably on you for pushing to get back ?1200!

[jrthomas_uk]

Another question...

My employer pays 9% pension contribution and I pay 3% from my salary. Are they oblidged to continue paying a certain amount even though I will only earn SMP and not a 'salary' as such? Or would my percentage contribution come out of SMP?

Thx

[njc97]

JRT - again it depends on whether or not it's a salary sacrifice arrangement for your contributions.

But assuming this isn't a ss arrangement, basically, during paid maternity leaves, your employer has to continue to make contributions as if you were normall employed, and will deduct 3% of your maternity pay (note you have the right to opt out, in which case neither you nor the employer makes the contribution). During unpaid maternity leave, there is no requirement for the employer or you to contribute.

If it's a salary sacrifice arrangement, then I think the employer would have to contribute all 12% on your behalf and make no deductions, but I'm less clear on this.