Maternity pay with two jobs: check each employer separately

The pregnancy’s expected week and qualifying week are the same, but your service and earnings can be different in each employment. You may pass both tests at one job and fail them at the other. The ordinary service test requires at least 26 weeks of continuous employment continuing into the qualifying week. Each employer also checks its applicable average weekly earnings threshold, evidence and notice.

For separate jobs, entitlement from one employer does not consume the other employer’s SMP cap. HMRC’s maternity benefits technical guidance explains multiple employers. If the employments are associated or their earnings are aggregated for NI, ask payroll how the statutory-pay treatment works; the simple separate-employer planner does not decide aggregation.

Use each employer’s last normal payday on or before the qualifying week ends and its earlier boundary payday at least eight weeks before. Different monthly and weekly payrolls can produce different relevant-period dates. Include relevant gross earnings actually paid by that employer, including applicable bonuses and overtime. Keep salary sacrifice and unpaid absence in that employer’s assessment.

For example, job A pays monthly and job B pays weekly. Job A may use two monthly payments converted by ×12/52; job B may use eight weekly payments divided by eight. A salary-only illustration can miss a bonus at job B or reduced earnings at job A. Follow the relevant-period worked example and HMRC’s manual method. The average is retained unrounded for statutory calculations.

Suppose both separate jobs qualify, with average weekly earnings of £500 at A and £200 at B, and all 39 weeks use 2026/27 rates. A pays six weeks at £450 and 33 at £194.32, totalling £9,112.56. B pays 90% of £200 = £180 for all 39 weeks because £180 is below the flat rate, totalling £7,020. Combined gross SMP is £16,132.56.

If you combine £700 earnings and apply one cap, you get six weeks at £630 plus 33 at £194.32: £10,192.56. That understates the two separate entitlements by £5,940. The arithmetic is not a payroll tax calculation: each employer still operates PAYE, NI and pension deductions as applicable.

The HMRC rate table supplies the £194.32 figure. If the leave crosses the next uprating, use the applicable rate for each SMP payment week. Do not assume an unpublished future flat rate.

Job A might offer eight weeks at full pay including SMP, while job B offers statutory pay only. Calculate A’s contractual total first and identify how much is statutory and how much is employer extra; do not add SMP twice. If a policy says “half pay plus SMP”, ask about any cap at normal pay and what the employer means by normal pay.

You can have different maternity start dates across employments, subject to the legal start rules and any automatic trigger. Use each confirmed start date in the planner. An early birth can affect both schedules. The combined calendar-month view allocates weekly gross pay over days for budgeting; it does not promise that both payrolls will pay on the same date or allocate partial weeks that way.

If one job ends, its SMP start may be compulsory even while the other employment continues. An eligible job ending before the 11th-week Sunday starts SMP that Sunday; ending later before SMP has begun starts it the next day. Do not use the later start chosen for your continuing job for both employers. A pay period that has already begun is not restarted when that job ends. Check HMRC’s leaver start rules with the affected payroll.

Keep each employer’s return-to-work and enhanced-pay repayment terms separately. SMP is not repayable merely because you do not return; contractual enhancement can have separate conditions. Request a written breakdown before making a decision about returning to one job.

Do not assume that a workday has no effect because it is for a different payroll. HMRC distinguishes employers you already worked for in the qualifying week from a new employer started after the baby is born. Work during maternity leave can affect SMP and employer enhancement; keeping-in-touch arrangements also have specific limits.

Before accepting a shift, give each payroll the employer name, whether that job existed in the qualifying week, the intended dates and whether the work is a keeping-in-touch day. Ask each to confirm the effect on SMP in writing. See HMRC’s employee circumstances guidance. Our planner assumes its pay weeks remain payable; it does not decide the effect of work undertaken during them.

Ask that employer for form SMP1 showing why it refused. Check whether service, the relevant earnings period or the threshold is the issue. A pay rise can sometimes require recalculation. Keep the paying employer’s SMP details available when checking Maternity Allowance: it is a separate benefit, not an automatic top-up for a second job that fails SMP.

If no employer pays SMP, the Maternity Allowance eligibility rules are particularly relevant to recent job changes and self-employment. Explain all employments to the benefit service so that it can assess the actual position.

“I have another employment and am checking each maternity entitlement separately. Please confirm my qualifying week, continuous service, relevant-period dates and earnings, unrounded average weekly earnings, SMP start date and gross weekly schedule. Please show employer enhancement separately and confirm how working in my other employment would affect statutory and contractual pay.”

Save each response beside its payslips. When payments start, compare the statutory and enhanced gross lines before investigating tax deductions. For the tax side of two jobs, use the two-jobs calculator and the two-jobs tax guide; they do not establish two separate SMP entitlements. Contact the employer about its pay calculation and HMRC about an incorrect tax code.