When you’re managing SMP in PayFit, you can choose how the pay is calculated for each employee. This is useful because different businesses and employees may prefer slightly different ways of spreading the payments each month.
Where to change the calculation method
To update the calculation method for SMP in PayFit:
Go to the employee’s record
Click on Leaves
Click Customise maternity pay settings
Here you can choose from the following options:
Daily (calendar days)
Daily (working days)
Weekly
Monthly fixed amount
The method you choose affects how the SMP is spread across the pay periods. Because months have different numbers of days or weeks, the SMP amount may vary slightly from month to month, depending on the method.
Example calculations
1. Daily (calendar days)
This method divides the weekly SMP by 7 to get a daily rate, then multiplies by the number of calendar days in the month.
For example, in May 2025 (31 days):
Weekly SMP: £187.18
Daily rate: £187.18 ÷ 7 = £26.74
SMP for May: £26.74 × 31 = £828.94
2. Daily (working days)
This method divides the weekly SMP by the number of working days in a week (usually 5), then multiplies by the number of working days in the month.
For example, if the employee works a standard 5-day week and is off the whole of May 2025 (22 working days):
Weekly SMP: £187.18
Daily rate: £187.18 ÷ 5 = £37.44
SMP for May: £37.44 × 22 = £823.68
3. Weekly
If you choose the weekly method, SMP is paid in full weeks. This means if an SMP week overlaps two months, the full week’s payment will fall in the month where the week ends.
For example, if an employee’s SMP week runs Monday to Sunday, and Sunday falls in June, the whole week’s SMP will be paid in June.
4. Monthly fixed amount
With this method, you can choose to pay a fixed amount that you choose each month. This is not automatic — you enter the amount you want to pay for each month.
This means the employee can receive the same SMP amount each month, regardless of how many days or weeks are in the month or you can enter figures to follow your own schedule of payments.
How to check the SMP amount
You can always check how much SMP is due by looking at the maternity pay projection under Leaves > Parental leave.
For more details on this feature, see our handy Help Centre article.
Need help adding maternity leave?
If you’d like step-by-step guidance on how to add maternity leave in PayFit, check out our Help Centre article.