§ Brian CotterTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of those businesses providing statutory maternity pay to their employees have made a claim to be reimbursed in each financial year since 1996. [19111]
§ Dawn PrimaroloAll employers are required to pay Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) to eligible employees. Employers do not have to make a claim to have SMP reimbursed; they recover it from the national insurance contributions (NICs) that they are due to pay over to the Inland Revenue each month.
Information is not available in the form requested. Although we have accurate figures of the numbers of employers recovering SMP we do not presently record the number of employers paying SMP. The number of employers who recovered SMP in each year is as follows:
Year Number 1997–98 95,524 1998–99 70,812 No data are currently available for any later year. A random sample check of employers who pay SMP is carried out each year. Data from this sample check indicate that between 88 per cent. and 90 per cent. of employers do recover all the SMP that they have paid out.