- The SMP1 is the form an employer gives an employee to explain why statutory maternity pay isn’t payable, not a form the employee fills in to claim it.
- Statutory maternity pay runs for 39 weeks at 90% of average weekly earnings for the first 6 weeks, then £194.32 or 90% of earnings (whichever is lower) for the remaining 33 weeks.
- Employees who don’t qualify for statutory maternity pay can usually claim Maternity Allowance from the DWP instead, using form MA1.
The SMP1 form is the document an employer gives an employee to explain why statutory maternity pay (SMP) isn’t payable, and it’s issued by the employer, not filled in by the employee. That’s the opposite of what most people assume.
SMP itself runs for up to 39 weeks and is paid through payroll, with the employer reclaiming most of it back from HMRC. If you don’t qualify for SMP, the SMP1 is what you use to claim Maternity Allowance instead.
Whether you’re an employer working out your obligations or an employee checking what you’re owed, our payroll service including statutory pay and this guide cover both sides.
What is the SMP1 form?
The SMP1 is the form an employer completes to tell an employee, in writing, why they don’t qualify for statutory maternity pay. It’s a refusal-and-explanation form, not a claim form.
This matters because the name gets misread constantly.
Employees hear “SMP1” and assume it’s the thing they submit to get paid. It isn’t. The employer issues it, keeps a copy, and hands it over along with the employee’s maternity certificate.
Its real job is to unlock the next step. Once an employee has an SMP1 in hand, they can use it to claim Maternity Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions. So the form isn’t a dead end. It’s the handover between two different payment routes.
For employers: what to do when someone gives notice
When an employee tells you they’re pregnant and plan to take maternity leave, you’ve got a defined set of steps and a clock running on each one. The trigger is their notice, and everything else flows from there.
Your first job is to work out three things: whether they qualify, how much they’ll get, and when it starts.
Here’s the sequence.
- Get notice from your employee at least 28 days before they want SMP to start. This can be in writing if you ask for it.
- Ask for proof of the pregnancy, usually the MATB1 maternity certificate from their midwife or doctor, issued around 20 weeks.
- Check eligibility against the qualifying conditions (covered in the next section).
- Confirm in writing whether you’ll pay SMP, the weekly amount, and the start and end dates.
- If they don’t qualify, issue an SMP1 within 7 days of your decision.
The MATB1 is your evidence for both the pay and the recovery claim, so don’t process anything without it. Keep the original safe.
Tip: diarise the qualifying week the moment someone gives notice. Nearly every deadline and calculation on this page hangs off it, and it’s easy to miscount under pressure.
Diarise the qualifying week the moment someone gives notice. Nearly every deadline and calculation on this page hangs off it, and it's easy to miscount under pressure.
Who qualifies for statutory maternity pay?
An employee qualifies for statutory maternity pay if they meet three tests on continuous employment, earnings, and notice. Miss any one and SMP isn’t payable, though Maternity Allowance often is.
The three conditions are:
Condition | The rule for 2026/27 |
Continuous employment | Worked for you continuously for at least 26 weeks up to and into the qualifying week (the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth) |
Average weekly earnings | At least £129 a week (the lower earnings limit) on average, before tax |
Notice and evidence | At least 28 days’ notice of the start date, plus a MATB1 certificate |
Continuous employment isn’t broken by sickness, holiday, or other statutory leave. It is broken by starting a new job, which is the single most common reason someone fails the test.
Earnings are averaged across a set “relevant period” ending near the qualifying week. So a recent pay rise or a quiet month can tip someone either side of the £129 line.
Work it out properly rather than eyeballing their headline salary.
If your employee doesn’t qualify: issuing an SMP1
If your employee fails any of the qualifying conditions, you must give them an SMP1 form within 7 days of making that decision. This is the moment the form exists for.
Two deadlines apply at once, and you have to satisfy both:
- Within 7 days of your decision that they don’t qualify.
- So that they receive it within 28 days of their request for SMP, or the birth, whichever comes first.
Fill in the whole form, explaining exactly why SMP isn’t payable. Hand it over with their MATB1 certificate, and keep a copy for your records.
That certificate matters, because they’ll need it for their Maternity Allowance claim.
Don’t sit on it. If you delay or refuse to issue an SMP1, the employee can ask HMRC’s Statutory Payment Disputes Team to step in, and HMRC can issue one on your behalf. Getting it right first time is far less painful.
How to pay statutory maternity pay through payroll
Statutory maternity pay is paid through your normal payroll run, in the same way and on the same date you’d usually pay wages. It’s treated as earnings, so income tax and National Insurance come off it as standard.
SMP runs for up to 39 weeks and the amount changes partway through.
Period | Weekly rate for 2026/27 |
First 6 weeks | 90% of average weekly earnings, with no cap |
Remaining 33 weeks | £194.32, or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower |
That step down after week six is steep for higher earners, and it catches people out. An employee on a good salary can drop from most of their pay to the flat rate overnight.
It’s worth flagging to them early rather than letting the payslip deliver the shock.
Because SMP counts as earnings, it also interacts with employer National Insurance and pension contributions. If you run payroll in-house, your software should handle the mechanics, but the responsibility for it being right still sits with you.
What if there’s a pay rise during leave?
A pay rise awarded during the relevant period, or during the leave itself, can increase the average weekly earnings figure and change what you owe.
This is a genuine trap in manual payroll. If a rise applies, recalculate rather than assuming the original figure still holds.
Claiming it back from HMRC
Almost all of the statutory maternity pay you hand out can be reclaimed from HMRC, which is what makes SMP affordable for small employers. You recover it through your payroll submissions, not as a separate application.
How much you get back depends on your National Insurance bill from the previous tax year.
Your situation | Recovery rate for 2026/27 |
Total Class 1 NI over £45,000 last tax year | 92% of the SMP you pay |
Total Class 1 NI of £45,000 or less last tax year | 109% of the SMP you pay, via Small Employers’ Relief |
Yes, small employers get back more than they pay out. The extra 9% under Small Employers’ Relief is there to cover the National Insurance cost of the payment, so a genuinely small business shouldn’t be out of pocket over the full period.
The cash-flow catch is timing. You pay the employee first and recover afterwards through your Employer Payment Summary, so there’s always a gap between money going out and money coming back.
On a single-employee payroll that gap can sting, which is exactly the point where handling it yourself starts to feel like more trouble than it’s worth. This is standard within payroll in a limited company, but standard isn’t the same as simple.
Records you need to keep
You must keep statutory maternity pay records for at least three years after the end of the tax year they relate to. HMRC can ask to see them, so this isn’t optional housekeeping.
Your records need to show:
- The dates of the employee’s maternity leave.
- The SMP payments you made and the dates.
- The MATB1 certificate or other evidence of the due date.
- Any week you didn’t pay SMP, and why.
If you issued an SMP1, keep your copy of that too. Good records are also your protection if a payment is ever queried, so treat them as part of the job rather than an afterthought.
Understanding the P32 explained helps here, since your recovery figures feed into what you report and pay across each month.
For employees: what you’re entitled to
If you qualify for statutory maternity pay, your employer must pay you for up to 39 weeks: 90% of your average weekly earnings for the first 6 weeks, then £194.32 a week or 90% of your earnings (whichever is lower) for the next 33 weeks. It’s paid through payroll, with tax and National Insurance taken off like normal wages.
To get it, you need to do two things and hit the deadlines:
- Give your employer at least 28 days’ notice of when you want your SMP to start.
- Give them a MATB1 maternity certificate, which your midwife or doctor provides from around 20 weeks.
Your employer should confirm your pay and dates in writing. If your take-home looks lower than the gross figures above, that’s the tax and National Insurance, not an error.
The rates quoted are before deductions. Seeing how understanding a payslip works can make that first maternity payslip a lot less confusing.
One honest point worth making. Your entitlement depends on your own circumstances, and only your employer or GOV.UK can confirm your exact figures. Treat this guide as the map, not the final word on your personal claim.
What to do if you’ve been turned down
If your employer decides you don’t qualify for statutory maternity pay, they must give you an SMP1 form within 7 days of that decision, explaining why. Being turned down for SMP doesn’t mean you get nothing.
The SMP1 is your route to the alternative. You use it to claim Maternity Allowance from the DWP, so keep it safe along with your MATB1 certificate.
If your employer hasn’t given you an SMP1, or you think they’ve refused SMP wrongly, you have options. You can contact HMRC’s Statutory Payment Disputes Team, who can issue an SMP1 for you and make a formal decision on your entitlement.
Don’t wait around, though. You can start your Maternity Allowance claim before the SMP1 arrives and send the form on later.
Maternity Allowance: the other route
Maternity Allowance is the payment for people who can’t get statutory maternity pay, and it comes from the DWP rather than an employer. You claim it yourself using form MA1, not through payroll.
It’s aimed at the self-employed, people who’ve recently stopped working, and employees who don’t meet the SMP conditions.
Your situation | Maternity Allowance for 2026/27 |
Employed or recently stopped working | £194.32 a week or 90% of average weekly earnings (whichever is less), up to 39 weeks |
Self-employed | Between £27 and £194.32 a week, up to 39 weeks, depending on Class 2 NI contributions |
Unpaid work for a spouse or civil partner’s business | £27 a week for up to 14 weeks |
For the self-employed, the amount hinges on your Class 2 National Insurance record in the 66 weeks before your due date. Class 2 contributions run at £3.65 a week for 2026/27, and paying at least 13 weeks’ worth gets you the full rate.
If you’ve paid less, you can usually top up after you apply, and the DWP will backdate the increase.
You can apply once you’ve reached the 26th week of your pregnancy. Attach your MATB1 certificate, and your SMP1 if you have one.
If you’re self-employed and weighing up statutory support more broadly, our guide to sick pay if you’re self-employed covers the parallel gap on the sickness side.
What this does to your payroll and cash flow
For an employer, statutory maternity pay turns a routine payroll run into something with real deadlines, recalculations, and a cash-flow lag attached. It’s usually the first time a small employer meets a statutory payment that isn’t just wages, and it’s often the moment they decide payroll has outgrown the spreadsheet.
The pressure points are specific:
- You pay the employee before you recover from HMRC, so cash goes out ahead of coming back.
- Average weekly earnings need calculating properly, and a mid-period pay rise can change the sum.
- The SMP1 deadline, the 39-week schedule, and the recovery claim all have to line up in your submissions.
On a payroll with one or two people, none of this is impossible. It’s just fiddly, and the cost of a mistake lands on someone who’s counting on that money during leave.
Working out the true cost of employing someone tends to make the case for handing the running of it to someone whose job it is.
How Sleek helps with statutory maternity pay
Statutory maternity pay is where payroll stops being routine, and it’s exactly where a small employer most wants a real person handling it rather than a form they half understand.
Sleek’s payroll service manages the calculation, the SMP1 where it’s needed, the recovery claim, and the RTI submissions, so your employee gets the right amount on time and you get back what you’re owed.
We’re qualified, in-house accountants, not an outsourced call centre, and statutory pay is exactly the sort of thing we take off your plate. You can see how accounting and payroll fit together, or read our payroll and pensions FAQs for the common questions first.
Disclaimer: The preceding information is not legal advice. This content is aimed to provide general guidance. For more formal or legal advice, contact Sleek directly.
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FAQs on the SMP1 form and statutory maternity pay
What is an SMP1 form and who fills it in?
The employer fills in the SMP1 form, not the employee. It’s the document an employer uses to explain, in writing, why an employee doesn’t qualify for statutory maternity pay. Despite the name, it isn’t a claim form. The employee then uses the completed SMP1 to claim Maternity Allowance from the DWP instead.
Who qualifies for statutory maternity pay?
You qualify if you’ve worked for the same employer continuously for at least 26 weeks into the qualifying week, earn at least £129 a week on average, and give proper notice with a MATB1 certificate. Continuous employment isn’t broken by holiday or sickness, but it is broken by changing jobs, which is the most common reason people miss out.
How much is statutory maternity pay in 2026/27?
Statutory maternity pay is 90% of your average weekly earnings for the first 6 weeks, with no cap. For the remaining 33 weeks you get £194.32 a week or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. It’s paid for up to 39 weeks and treated as earnings, so income tax and National Insurance are deducted through payroll.
What happens if my employee doesn’t qualify?
You must give them an SMP1 form within 7 days of deciding they don’t qualify, and they must receive it within 28 days of their request or the birth. Fill in the whole form, explain why SMP isn’t payable, and return their MATB1 certificate with it. They can then use the SMP1 to claim Maternity Allowance from the DWP.
Can an employer claim statutory maternity pay back from HMRC?
Yes. You reclaim 92% of the SMP you pay if your total Class 1 National Insurance was over £45,000 in the previous tax year. If it was £45,000 or less, you get 109% back through Small Employers’ Relief, so you recover more than you pay out. Recovery happens through your payroll submissions, after you’ve paid the employee.
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What’s the difference between maternity pay and Maternity Allowance?
Statutory maternity pay comes from your employer through payroll and needs 26 weeks’ continuous employment. Maternity Allowance comes from the DWP and is for people who don’t qualify for SMP, including the self-employed and those who’ve recently changed jobs. You claim Maternity Allowance yourself using form MA1, whereas SMP is handled by your employer.
When do I have to give an employee an SMP1?
Within 7 days of deciding the employee doesn’t qualify for statutory maternity pay. On top of that, they must actually receive the form within 28 days of their SMP request or the birth, whichever is earlier. If you delay or refuse without issuing one, HMRC’s Statutory Payment Disputes Team can step in and issue an SMP1 on your behalf.
