Average weekly earnings for SMP
Edited by Oliver Wakefield-Smith, Founder of Digital Signet. Last reviewed 23 June 2026.
Direct answer
What is AWE?
Average weekly earnings is your total gross earnings in the 8 weeks before the qualifying week, divided by 8. Anything paid in that window that goes through PAYE counts: salary, contractual bonus, commission, overtime. Salary sacrifice that reduces your gross pay also reduces AWE.
The 8 weeks that count
For weekly-paid employees, the relevant period is the 8 complete weeks before the QW. For monthly-paid employees, take the last 2 monthly paydays before the QW, multiply by 12 and divide by 52 (the statutory test under reg 21).
Worked example, monthly paid
You are paid 2,500 per month on the 25th of each month. Your QW starts on Sunday 14 September. The two paydays before the QW are 25 July and 25 August, totalling 5,000. AWE = (5,000 x 12) / 52 = 1,153.85 per week. 90% AWE = 1,038.46. Weeks 1 to 6 of SMP pay 1,038.46 per week; weeks 7 to 39 pay the statutory 194.32.
What counts toward AWE
- Salary and wages paid in the period.
- Contractual bonus or commission paid in the period (even if earned earlier).
- Overtime paid in the period.
- Backdated pay paid in the period under the Alabaster recalculation.
What does not count
- Tax-free benefits in kind that do not run through PAYE.
- Sick pay where the employer pays only Statutory Sick Pay (SSP itself does count).
- Salary-sacrificed amounts (childcare voucher legacy, EV scheme, cycle, pension sacrifice) reduce AWE.
If your AWE is at or above 125 per week you qualify for SMP. Below that, see Maternity Allowance.