SMP Employer Reclaim Calculator

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is paid by employers to eligible employees for up to 39 weeks of maternity leave — the first 6 weeks at 90% of average weekly earnings, and the remaining 33 weeks at the lower of 90% of average weekly earnings or the statutory flat rate (£194.32/week for 2026/27). Although employers pay SMP directly to the employee through normal payroll, almost all of it can be reclaimed back from HMRC. Most employers — those whose total Class 1 National Insurance liability (employer plus employee contributions) exceeded £45,000 in the relevant qualifying tax year — reclaim 92% of the SMP they paid out. The qualifying tax year is normally the last complete tax year before the "qualifying week" (the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth). Small employers — those whose total Class 1 NI liability was £45,000 or less in the qualifying tax year — qualify for Small Employers' Relief and can reclaim 103% of the SMP paid. This extra 3% is designed to help cover the employer National Insurance and pension contributions that still apply on top of SMP but are not separately reclaimable. Because the reclaim rate exceeds 100%, a genuinely small employer can end up with a net cash gain on the SMP itself, even though they still bear other associated costs (employer NI, pension auto-enrolment contributions, and the administrative cost of covering the role during leave). Reclaiming is done through your normal payroll software: each pay period, you reduce the amount of PAYE tax, employee NI and employer NI you pay over to HMRC by the reclaimable SMP amount, recorded on your Employer Payment Summary (EPS). If your reclaim exceeds what you owe HMRC in a given period, you can apply for advance funding to cover the shortfall in cash flow. The same 92%/103% split and reclaim mechanism applies to Statutory Paternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay, Shared Parental Pay and Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay.