Maternity Leave and Pay

If you are employed or self-employed and pregnant, you need to find out what maternity leave and what maternity pay you are entitled to.

Until the Employment Protection Act 1975, women in the UK could legally be sacked from their job for becoming pregnant.

Even then, there were strict criteria around who was eligible for maternity leave. The length of leave varied between companies. While maternity grants had been around since the early twentieth century, it wasn’t until the Employment Relations Act 1999 that women were given the legal right to at least 18 weeks’ paid maternity leave.

Paid paternity leave was introduced in 2003. In 2015, Shared Parental Leave allowed new parents, whether biological or adoptive, more choice over managing the return to work.

Information about Paternity and Shared Parental leave and pay.

Am I eligible for Maternity Leave?

You are entitled to Maternity Leave if you are an employee. If you are considered a worker, rather than an employee, you don’t have the same rights. You are considered to be a worker if you work for an agency, do casual work or a zero-hours contract.

How much maternity leave can I take?

Statutory Maternity Leave is 52 weeks long and made up of two parts:

Ordinary Maternity Leave – the first 26 weeks
Additional Maternity Leave – the last 26 weeks

You can begin your Maternity Leave up to 11 weeks before the baby’s due date.

You will still be able to accrue holiday time and be eligible for pay rises while on leave.

Minimum Maternity Leave

Once you have given birth, the minimum leave you must take is 2 weeks, or 4 if you work in a factory, even if you aren’t considered to be an employee. After that, you may return to work at any time, or take the full 52 weeks’ leave if you wish.

What is Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)?

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is the minimum your employer is legally required to pay you while you are on Maternity Leave. Many employers offer much better pay than this, but not all.

Be wary that SMP is only for 39 weeks, not 52.

You can begin receiving SMP up to 11 weeks before your baby’s due date, and the latest you can begin is the date of birth.

How much is Statutory Maternity Pay?

You get:

90% of your average weekly earnings (before tax) for the first 6 weeks
£187.18 or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for the next 33 weeks

Tax and National Insurance will be deducted from SMP, unless you fall below the earnings threshold.

SMP is paid in the same way as your wages (for example monthly or weekly).

Who is eligible for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)?

To qualify for SMP you must:

Earn on average at least £125 a week.
Give the correct notice and proof you’re pregnant.
Have worked for your employer continously for at least 26 weeks continuing into the ‘qualifying week’ – the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth.

When does Statutory Maternity Pay start?

SMP usually starts when you take your maternity leave.

It starts automatically if you’re off work for a pregnancy-related illness in the 4 weeks before the week (Sunday to Saturday) that your baby is due.

What is Maternity Allowance?

If you do not qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay, you may be eligible for Maternity Allowance.

Maternity Allowance is a payment you can get when you take time off to have a baby and you are:

employed but cannot get Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) or
self-employed or
have recently stopped working or
take part in unpaid work for the business of your spouse or civil partner

How much is Maternity Allowance?

You could receive:

£187.18 a week or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is less) for up to 39 weeks if you’re employed or have recently stopped working. (If you take the full 52 weeks Statutory Maternity Leave, your final 13 weeks will be unpaid).
If you’re self-employed, you will get between £27 to £187.18 a week for up to 39 weeks.

There are two periods of time that you could receive Maternity Allowance for – 14 weeks or 39 weeks.

To get the full amount that you’re entitled to, claim within 3 months of your Maternity Allowance start date.

To claim, complete a Maternity Allowance (MA1) claim form.

When do I need to notify my employer?

You must notify your employer about your pregnancy, in order to be eligible for Maternity Leave.

This needs to be at least 15 weeks before your due date. Your employer must then confirm the start and end dates of your Maternity Leave within 28 days.

These dates can be adjusted in unforeseen circumstances, such as premature birth, stillbirth or you simply want to return to work earlier than you expected to. If you do wish to change your return to work date, you must give your employer at least 8 weeks’ notice.

To receive Statutory Maternity Pay, you must give your employer at least 28 days’ notice of when you want your pay to start, and proof that you are pregnant.

This proof could be a letter from your doctor or midwife, or a MATB1 certificate, that shows that you are pregnant and when the baby is due. If the baby is premature and you haven’t notified your employer yet, you must do so as soon as possible.

Statutory pay if you are self-employed

If you are self-employed, you do not the meet the eligibility criteria for Statutory Maternity Pay.

You can still be eligible for Maternity Allowance.

If you are self-employed alongside a job where you are considered employed, you can claim statutory pay from your employed job but not your self-employed business.

Maternity Action has excellent guidance for self-employed people.

Scotland’s Pregnancy and Baby Payment

In Scotland, the Pregnancy and Baby Payment helps with the costs of having a baby. You can apply for this payment during pregnancy or after your baby is born.

You can get Pregnancy and Baby Payment any time after you have reached the end of the 24th week of pregnancy until the day your baby is 6 months old. If your baby is born before 24 weeks, you can apply from this date up to the day your baby is 6 months old.

If you’ve taken over looking after a child, for example, if you’ve adopted, you can apply up to the day before the child’s first birthday.

How much is the Pregnancy and Baby Payment?

You will get a Pregnancy and Baby Payment of:

£767.50 for your first child.

£383.75 for any child that comes after your first.

If you’ve already been paid the Sure Start Maternity Grant for a baby, you cannot be paid the Pregnancy and Baby Payment for the same baby.

Leave resulting from miscarriage, stillbirth and abortion

If you have a miscarriage or an abortion, you can use your sick leave while you recover physically and emotionally.

If you miscarry or have a stillbirth, you may be able to take compassionate leave or unpaid leave, at the discretion of your employer. You can take sick leave, which usually carries a fixed amount of time that you can receive full pay or Statutory Sick Pay (SSP).

SSP is £118.75 per week, if you are eligible, and payable for up to 28 weeks.

If your baby is stillborn from the start of the 24th week of pregnancy onwards, you may be eligible for Maternity Allowance or Pregnancy and Baby Payment.

If your baby is born alive but dies within 28 days, you should still be entitled to Statutory Maternity Leave and Pay, if you were eligible anyway.

How much Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay can I get?

If your child is stillborn or dies before the age of 18, you can have two weeks of Parental Bereavement Leave, if eligible.

During this time, you can receive Parental Bereavement Pay of £187.18 a week or 90% of your average weekly pay (whichever is lower).

What do I do if my employer underpays me or neglects my rights?

If you think your employer is not paying you the correct amount of statutory pay, or has wrongly denied you it, and you have not been able to resolve the matter with them, you can contact HMRC.

By phone

Lines are open 8:30am – 5:00pm Monday to Thursday, and 8:30am – 4:30pm on Fridays.

Telephone: 0300 322 9432
Textphone: 0300 200 3212

By letter

You can write to:

Statutory Payment Dispute Team
PT Operations
North East England
HMRC
BX9 1AN

Remember to include your contact details so that they can respond to you.