Maternity Pay and Other Maternity Rights and Benefits

Check out our step by step guide to your maternity rights, as we explain everything you need to know about maternity leave and maternity pay. Here we’ll navigate you through the whole process from telling your employer you’re pregnant, to finding out how much time you can take off with your new baby.

Statutory Maternity Leave (SML)

First things first, it’s important to know that all employees are entitled to 52 weeks of maternity leave. The 52 weeks are broken up as follows:

• The first 26 weeks are known as Ordinary Maternity Leave
• The last 26 weeks are known as Additional Maternity Leave

Of course, you may not decide to take the full 52 weeks of maternity leave, but you will need to take two weeks off of work after your baby is born. If you work in a factory, this is extended to four weeks off after your baby is born, this is known as compulsory maternity leave.

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)

As well as Statutory Maternity Leave, you may also be entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP). You should be entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay if:

• Your average weekly earnings are at least £123
• You work for your employer in the 15^th week before your baby is due, and have also worked for them for 26 weeks prior to this

Find out more about SML and SMP here. 

How much is Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)?

If you are entitled to receive Statutory Maternity Pay it will be broken down as follows:

• For the first six weeks you will earn 90% of your average weekly earnings (before tax)
• For the following 33 weeks you will receive either 90% of your average weekly earnings, or £184.03. You will receive whichever is the lowest of the two amounts

Statutory Maternity Pay will be paid to you in exactly the same way as your regular wages, for example, on a weekly basis if you’re usually paid weekly, or once a month if you’re usually paid monthly.

Tax and National Insurance will also be deducted in the same way as usual.

Contractual Maternity Pay

Don’t forget to check out your employer’s maternity policy, as some companies offer more generous maternity pay than Statutory Maternity Pay, so it’s well worth looking into.

Telling your Employer and claiming your Maternity Leave and Pay

To claim your maternity leave you will need to let your employer know when your baby is due, and when you want your maternity leave to begin. You must provide this information to your employer at least 15 weeks both before your due date, and when you want to start your maternity leave.

To claim your maternity pay you will need to give your employer at least 28 days’ notice of the date you want your maternity pay to start.

To receive your Statutory Maternity Pay, your employer will require proof that you are pregnant. Your midwife or doctor will provide you with a MATB1 certificate around 20 weeks before your due date.

Employment Rights during Maternity Leave

While on maternity leave many of your normal employment rights remain in place:

• You will continue to accrue annual leave
• You should still receive pay reviews
• Your employer will continue to make pension contributions
• Your employer can stay ‘in reasonable contact’ with you, but this shouldn’t be excessive
• You are able to attend up to 10 ‘keeping in touch days’ at work without it impacting on your maternity pay and leave

Maternity Allowance for Self-Employed Women, Women not in Work and Women not entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay

If you cannot claim Statutory Maternity Pay from an employer, you may be entitled to receive Maternity Allowance from the government instead.

If either of the following apply to you, you may be eligible for Maternity Allowance:

• You have been registered as self-employed for at least 26 weeks in the 66 weeks before your baby's due
• You have been employed for at least 26 weeks in the 66 weeks before your baby's due

If you have been employed, you must have been earning £30 a week or more in at least 13 weeks of your employment. The weeks do no have to be put together though.

You may still qualify if you've recently stopped working. It does not matter if you had different jobs or periods of unemployment.

How much is Maternity Allowance?

How much Maternity Allowance you receive depends on your individual circumstances.

If you are unemployed or have recently stopped employment, you could get:

• 39 weeks of whichever amount is less out of either £184.03 per week or 90% of your weekly earnings

If you are self-employed you could get:

• Up to 39 weeks of between £27 to £184.03 a week

How much you get when you are or have been self-employed depends on the Class 2 National Insurance contributions you've made in the 66 weeks before your baby is due.

To get the full amount, you must have been registered with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for at least 26 weeks in the 66 weeks before your baby is due, and paid Class 2 National Insurance contributions for at least 13 of the 66 weeks before the baby is due.

If you've not paid any Class 2 National Insurance contributions, you may still be entitled to £27 per week Maternity Allowance.

You may also be able to top-up your contributions to increase your Maternity Allowance after you apply.

Depending on how many additional contributions you pay, you can get between £27 and £184.03 per week for up to 39 weeks.