‘Employers should be punished’ – Readers react to ‘common error’ affecting women’s pension pots
On Saturday, our cost of living specialist Megan Baynes exclusively revealed a “common error” that was hitting women’s pension pots.
When a woman goes on mat leave, their employer should continue to make pension contributions based on their full salary.
However, women have reported employer contributions have been wrongly changed to match their lower mat leave income.
Women who spoke to Sky News reported missing anywhere from a few hundred to £4,000 in their pension pots.
Many of you got in touch after reading the piece to share your own experiences.
Here’s what some of you had to say…
I was on mat leave in the NHS in 2023 for nine months, wasn’t entitled to CMP. I had maternity allowance. I returned to work after my mat leave and now have to pay back an extra £90 on top of my normal pension contribution of more than £100 due to not getting wages on mat leave.
NHS mat leave hurts my finances
CMP is contractual maternity pay and is usually offered by employers as a benefit.
It essentially means your employer tops up your statutory maternity pay.
Maternity allowance comes from the government rather than your employer.
You can usually get it if you’ve been employed or self-employed for 26 weeks in the 66 weeks before your due date.
Well, there’s no surprise here! There is no reaction from any government when it’s women in a pension pit!
DaBeezNeez
Making pension contributions on lower rates of maternity pay is not a “common error”, it is a fraudulent act of exploitation for which employers should be punished and ordered to make good
4ndy
When Sky News contacted the pension regulator, Catherine Nicholson, interim director of automatic enrolment, said: “Some employers are making common errors by skipping important steps in respect of calculating pensions contributions and communications to staff. These errors include miscalculating contributions for staff receiving maternity pay.”
It said it has recovered more than £700m in missing contributions owed since 2012, but did not have specific figures related to mis-paid pensions while on maternity leave.
