Peninsula Group, HR and Health & Safety Experts
(Last updated )
Peninsula Group, HR and Health & Safety Experts
(Last updated )
Are your zero hour contract workers entitled to maternity pay? Employers, and workers, can read this expert guide to find out what the current UK payment rights are.
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There’s a lot of confusion surrounding zero hour contracts. But if you want to employ casual workers, you need to know what their rights are, including whether or not they’re entitled to maternity pay.
In this guide, we explain:
A zero hour contract is a contract that says your staff only have to work when you make work available to them.
There’s no contractual guarantee that work will be available, and you can choose not to give work to certain workers even if it is. Likewise, they can choose not to accept the work.
Zero hour contract workers are entitled to statutory annual leave and the National Minimum Wage, just like part-time and full-time workers.
Many employers believe their staff aren’t entitled to statutory maternity pay if they’re on zero hour contracts.
And while casual workers’ rights are more limited than full and part-time employees, there are times when you’ll need to give maternity pay to zero hour contract workers.
If you pay your zero hour contract workers through PAYE and deduct any tax or national insurance from their wages, they qualify for statutory maternity pay (SMP) if they meet the same criteria that full-time employees have to meet as well:
Even if your workers don’t qualify for statutory maternity pay, they may qualify for maternity allowance (MA) if:
If you have any questions about zero hour contract maternity pay, contact our HR consultants on 0800 028 2420.
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