Contractual maternity or adoption pay

The employment contract may contain more generous terms for payment of contractual maternity or adoption pay, which may have been collectively agreed by your union.

SMP, SAP and SShPP must all be paid whether or not a woman returns to work. By contrast, there is nothing to stop employers making more generous contractual maternity schemes conditional on a return to work for a set period, and repayable, except as to the SMP element, if the woman does not return (Handels-og Kontorfunktionaerernes C-66/96 [1999] IRLR 55). This kind of arrangement is not unusual, including in the public sector.