Family-related statutory payments and Maternity Allowance for furloughed employees
On 24 April 2020 The Maternity Allowance, Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay, Statutory Shared Parental Pay and Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay (Normal Weekly Earnings etc.) (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 were laid before Parliament and came into force on 25 April.
The statutory instrument amends Regulations for the following family-related payments and benefits:
- Statutory Maternity Pay;
- Statutory Adoption Pay;
- Statutory Paternity Pay;
- Statutory Shared Parental Pay;
- Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay; and
- Maternity Allowance.
The purpose of the statutory instrument is to prevent an employee from experiencing disadvantage in relation to the above family-related statutory payments and Maternity Allowance as a result of their being placed on temporary leave under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.
The amendments ensure that an employee’s eligibility for family-related statutory pay and their earnings-related rate of Statutory Maternity Pay, Maternity Allowance or Statutory Adoption Pay is the same as it would have been had they not been furloughed.
An Explanatory Memorandum has also been published.