Family leave
SMP average weekly earnings: the figure behind your maternity pay
One average decides whether you get Statutory Maternity Pay at all and how much the first 6 weeks are worth. Here is how payroll arrives at it, with real paydays.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
Average weekly earnings (AWE) for Statutory Maternity Pay are worked out from the gross pay actually paid to you in the relevant period: the stretch between the last normal payday on or before the Saturday that ends your qualifying week and the last normal payday at least 8 weeks before it, that earlier payday excluded. If you are paid weekly or every few weeks, the total is divided by the number of weeks in the period. If you are paid monthly, regulation 21(5) of the SMP (General) Regulations 1986 divides the total by the number of calendar months, multiplies by 12 and divides by 52, so two monthly payslips of £2,400 and £2,650 give £582.69 a week. Everything that counts for Class 1 National Insurance is included: overtime, bonuses, commission, holiday pay, sick pay and arrears, if paid on a payday inside the period. The result is compared, unrounded, with the lower earnings limit of £129, then multiplied by 90% for the first 6 weeks of SMP.
Average weekly earnings from two monthly payslips
Average weekly earnings
£582.69
| Total paid in the relevant period | £5,050.00 |
| SMP, first 6 weeks | £524.43 a week |
| SMP, later weeks | £194.32 a week |
Above the £129 lower earnings limit: the earnings test is met.
Step one: find the two paydays
Everything starts from the qualifying week, the 15th week before the week the baby is due, which always ends on a Saturday. For a baby due on 15 March 2027 it runs from 29 November 2026 to 5 December 2026. The relevant period then ends with the last normal payday on or before that Saturday, meaning the day your contract or your employer’s usual practice says you are paid (HMRC, SPM171100). It starts the day after the last normal payday falling at least 8 weeks earlier. Pay received early or late because of a bank holiday is handled by HMRC’s separate rules on mistimed payments, so check the payslip dates rather than assuming.
- Paid every Friday. The last payday is 4 December 2026. Counting back 8 weeks gives 9 October 2026, which is excluded, so the period covers the 8 Fridays from 16 October 2026 to 4 December 2026.
- Paid on the 28th of each month. The last payday is 28 November 2026. 8 weeks before is 3 October 2026; the last payday on or before that date is 28 September 2026, excluded. The period runs from 29 September 2026 to 28 November 2026 and contains two paydays.
Step two: add up what was paid
The regulations define earnings broadly: any remuneration from the employment that is liable to Class 1 National Insurance, or would be if it were high enough (HMRC, SPM171000). Everything paid on a payday inside the period goes in, even if it relates to work done earlier or later. A week in which nothing was due is counted as a week of zero pay rather than skipped.
| Payment | Counted? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Basic pay, overtime, shift premiums | Yes | Class 1 earnings |
| Bonus or commission paid in the period | Yes | Payment date decides |
| Holiday pay, including for future leave | Yes | Paid in the period |
| Statutory or company sick pay | Yes | Treated as earnings |
| Arrears of pay received in the period | Yes | Payment date decides |
| Pay given up under salary sacrifice | No | Not Class 1 earnings |
| Student bursary | No | Excluded by nidirect guidance |
Step three: turn the total into a weekly figure
Regulation 21 of the Statutory Maternity Pay (General) Regulations 1986 gives three methods. Weekly, fortnightly and four-weekly pay is divided by the number of weeks in the period. Pay at intervals of a calendar month is divided by the number of months, rounded to the nearest whole number if the period is not exact, then multiplied by 12 and divided by 52. Any other pattern that does not give a whole number of weeks is divided by the number of days and multiplied by 7.
| Pay pattern | Paid in the period | Calculation | Average weekly earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly (six weeks at £430, two with overtime at £510) | £3,600 | ÷ 8 | £450.00 |
| Monthly (£2,400 and £2,650) | £5,050 | ÷ 2 × 12 ÷ 52 | £582.69 |
| Monthly, low hours (£555 and £560) | £1,115 | ÷ 2 × 12 ÷ 52 | £128.6538 |
The monthly formula is why a monthly salary gives a slightly lower weekly figure than dividing by four and a third would suggest at first glance: 52 weeks are spread across 12 months, so each month counts as about 4.33 weeks.
Step four: the earnings test and the weekly SMP
The unrounded average is compared with the lower earnings limit in force on the last day of the qualifying week: £129 for 2026/27. The weekly employee clears it easily and would receive £405.00 for each of the first 6 weeks, then £194.32. The monthly employee on £582.69 would receive £524.43 and then £194.32. The low-hours employee misses the limit by pennies and gets no SMP; her route is Maternity Allowance, which has a much lower earnings threshold.
Two later events can change the figure. A pay rise that applies to any part of the period from the start of the relevant period to the end of maternity leave is treated as if it had been paid throughout the relevant period, and the difference is paid as arrears. And a mistake in the pay actually received can be corrected where there is written evidence that employer and employee agreed what should have been paid. The same averaging rules apply to Statutory Paternity Pay, which uses the same qualifying week, and to adoption pay, where the matching week takes its place; Northern Ireland uses the same method, as nidirect’s page on how SMP is worked out confirms.