Enter Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) in Accord Payroll

• How to set up an SMP payment plan using the expected week of confinement (EWC)
• How average weekly earnings are calculated and when to override them
• How SMP is recovered against your PAYE and NIC liability

Introduction

When an employee goes on maternity leave, Accord Payroll can calculate and pay SMP automatically once you enter the expected week of confinement (EWC). The system generates a weekly payment plan covering the statutory maternity pay period. SMP recovery is automatically offset against your company's PAYE and NIC liability each tax month and appears on the P32 Yearly Totals report. The SMP amount is also printed on the employee's P60 and P35 Continuation Sheet.

Set up an SMP payment plan

1. Select the required employee.
2. Click the Miscellaneous tab, then click the SMP button.
3. Enter the Expected Week of Confinement (EWC) and click Calculate.
4. If prompted, enter the employee's average weekly earnings and tick the Override AWE checkbox.
   Note: You will only be prompted for average weekly earnings if the system cannot calculate them automatically — typically for recent starters or on a new Accord Payroll implementation.
5. If you need to override the last normal payday or the Maternity Pay Period (MPP) start/end dates, enter those dates and tick the relevant override boxes, then click Calculate again.
6. Review the calculated SMP amounts, then click Update to view the SMP weekly payments table.
7. Click Update again to confirm and set up the payment plan, then click Close.