Processing Maternity Payment When an Employee Becomes a Leaver

When an employee on maternity leave leaves your company (for example, if the company is closing down), it’s important to process their final pay correctly. This ensures they receive all outstanding entitlements, including any remaining Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), holiday pay, and overtime. The final payroll run should reflect their leaver status and include all statutory payments and deductions.

What Is This Process?

This process is for employees who are on maternity leave and are leaving the company before their maternity pay period ends.
You must pay any outstanding SMP, as well as any other entitlements (like holiday pay or overtime) in their final payslip.

When Should You Use This?

When an employee on maternity leave is leaving the company for any reason (e.g., redundancy, company closure, resignation).
When you need to ensure all final payments, including SMP, are made in one payroll run.

Step-by-Step Instructions in BrightPay

Enter Maternity Pay as Usual

Set up and process SMP for the employee as you normally would.
For detailed guidance, see: [Statutory Maternity Pay in BrightPay](https://payrollsupport.uk.brightsg.com/hc/en-gb/articles/35549077039761-Statutory-Maternity-Pay)

Enter the Employee’s Leave Date

Go to Employees
Select the relevant employee from the list.
Click Edit Details.
Go to the Starter/Leaver tab.
Enter the employee’s leave date.

Pay All Outstanding Maternity Payments

Go to the employee’s payslip for their final pay period.
Click the spanner icon next to the SMP entry.
In the black box that appears, select Override amount.
Enter the total SMP amount still owed to the employee.
You can calculate this manually or refer to the SMP schedule in BrightPay: Go to Employees > More > Statutory Pay Calculation & Schedule and select the employee to review the schedule of SMP.
In order to be able to produce a P45 for the employee, reduce the number of weeks of maternity leave in the employee's calendar to coincide with the leave date.

Include Other Final Payments

Add any outstanding holiday pay, overtime, or other entitlements to the final payslip.

Check the Leave Date for the Final Payslip

Make sure the leave date falls within the period of the final payslip you are processing.
This ensures the correct information is sent to HMRC on the Full Payment Submission (FPS).

Finalise the Payslip and Submit to HMRC

Finalise the payslip as usual.
Submit the FPS to HMRC, which will include the leaver information and all final payments.

Payment after Leaving Payslip (when statutory pay is also included)

If you notice a "payment after leaving" payslip for an employee who has left and was on maternity or paternity leave, this is likely because statutory leave is still entered in their calendar.

If you’ve already paid all SMP and other entitlements to the employee and want to remove this extra payslip, here’s what to do:

Go to the Employees section and select the relevant employee.
Click on Calendar and choose a date where statutory leave is shown (these dates will appear in green).
Click Edit next to the Maternity Leave section.
Adjust the length of leave so it matches the last pay period when the employee was made a leaver.

This will help ensure no additional payments are processed after the employee has left.

Common Issues

SMP Not Fully Paid: If you don’t override the SMP amount, the employee may not receive all SMP owed in their final payslip.
Incorrect Leave Date: If the leave date doesn’t fall within date of the final payslip, HMRC will not receive the correct leaver information.
Missed Entitlements: Double-check that all outstanding holiday pay, overtime, and other payments are included.

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