Hi,
I'm looking for the golden nugget - something official that explicitly states that during periods of statutory leave/pay then salary exchange benefits remain the responsibility of the Company to provide and since statutory payments cannot be reduced by salary exchange then any costs remain with the employer during that period.
I've scoured the HMRC manuals and also the internet. There's lots of legal opinion out there although no references to opinion forming resources. I'm not sure that this guidance exists in any explicit form, although we all know it's the right thing to do. Anybody know of any resources that show this?
Hi Samantha
Below is an extract from the gov.uk site covering Maternity Benefits.
If you have a salary sacrifice agreement with your employer, your employer will work out the SMP payable to you based on your earnings which count for NI contributions. Your employer must then pay the SMP due to you in full. SMP cannot be further reduced by the terms of a salary sacrifice arrangement which runs during your maternity pay period.
Here's the link also it's in section 3.10
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/maternity-benefits-technical-guidance/maternity-benefits-technical-guidance#statutory-maternity-pay-smp
Hope this helps
Ian