What pension contributions are made during maternity leave?

When an employee takes maternity leave, her employer is required, by law, to continue paying full pension contributions. This applies to the contributions paid by the employer, but not to employee contributions. Contributions must be kept up while the employee is on paid maternity leave, or for 26 weeks if she isn't entitled to maternity pay.

You can adjust the pension contributions using the 'Pensions etc' tab for that employee. If there is already an employer contribution, you can simply change the pensionable earnings to be a fixed amount. If you are using one of the 'Auto Enrolment Min' options, change that contribution to 'None' and then add separate employer and employee contributions instead.

If the employee has been paid variable amounts, there may be more than one reasonable way to work out the normal pension contribution. The law does not specify which method you should use.