SMP & salary sacrifice scheme

[rlw]

Trying here first so...

I run the payroll for a number of my clients and am pretty OK with most of it but I am not sure about this situation.

Employee is on salary sacrifice scheme to pay for childcare but is now pregnant again and leaving at the end of July. During her time away from work she will not be using childcare. And the question is, on what should her SMP be based?

Her actual monthly pay up to and including the date of her leaving OR
her actual pay plus the money sacrificed for the childcare?

It seems to me that her SMP should be based on her pay plus the sacrificed sum as this is what she is actually entitiled to under her CoE, but if you look at it in black and white terms, her salary is what she is paid every month.

There is unlikely to be any problem with whatever way it pans out but I am keen to get this right, simply to stop the employer nagging me as to the rights and wrongs of SMP etc etc.

Thanks

[edc]

If possible she could come out of the childcare voucher scheme. There is lots on HMRC about this and the scheme rules should cover this scenario.