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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, and 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, and 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.
Eligibility 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 work on 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.
Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)
Statutory Maternity Pay 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.
- 90% of your average weekly earnings for the first 6 weeks
- 90% of your average earnings or £184.03 a week, whichever is lower, for up to 33 weeks after that
You will still have to pay tax and National Insurance when receiving SMP, unless you fall below the earnings threshold anyway.
Maternity Allowance
If you do not qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay, you may be eligible for Maternity Allowance.
You could receive either:
- 90% of your average weekly earnings or £184.03 a week, whichever is lower
- £30 a week
There are two periods of time that you could receive Maternity Allowance for – 14 weeks or 39 weeks.
Link to the Maternity Allowance claim form.
Sure Start Maternity Grant
This is a one-off payment of £500.
Eligibility criteria include:
- You or your partner receives certain benefits, including Universal Credit, Income Support, -income-related Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit or Child Tax Credit.
- Usually you will only be eligible if you are not responsible for any other children, but you may also be eligible if:
- The child is under a year old and you are adopting them, have become their guardian or have a parental order for a surrogate birth
- You’re having twins (or more)
- The child (or children) you already care for are not yours and you are caring for them under kinship or foster care
- You’ve been granted refugee status or humanitarian protection
This grant is not available in Scotland anymore, and instead this has been replaced with the Pregnancy and Baby Payment. The Pregnancy and Baby Payment is a one-off payment of £754.65 for your first child and £377.35 for any children after that (correct to tax year 2024-25).
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.
Leave in the event of 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 £116.75 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.
Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay
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 £184.03 a week or 90% of your average weekly pay.
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.
