Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many women received statutory maternity pay for how long in the latest period for which figures are available.
Steve Webb
The total number of women that started receiving Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) in 2011/12 was 355,000 and the average number receiving SMP at any point in time during the year was 273,000. These figures are estimated based on a 1% sample of National Insurance records.
This figure is for Great Britain only. Northern Ireland figures are the responsibility of the Department for Social Development in Northern Ireland.
The duration of SMP claims cannot be estimated from National Insurance records, as these only contain information on the amount of SMP paid across the year and not when SMP claims begin and end. However the Department publishes the Maternity and Paternity Rights and Women Returners Survey, which provides an indication of SMP claim durations, with the latest publication being in 2009/10. In 2008, about half of women eligible for SMP took maternity pay for the statutory number of weeks (39 weeks). Findings can be accessed at the link below (Section 3.3 and Table 3.5 contain information on SMP durations):
Notes:
- The number of SMP receipts is shown in DWP’s expenditure tables found on the gov.uk website at <https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/benefit-expenditure-tables>
- Estimates of the number of women receiving SMP are based on the Lifetime Labour Market Database (L2) which is a 1 per cent sample of National Insurance Records.
- Estimates are subject to change due to further information becoming available through the National Insurance Recording System.
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