Your maternity rights

To find out more information about your maternity rights, please click on the appropriate section or question below:

Maternity Leave
How long do I get for maternity leave?

Statutory Maternity Pay
How much Statutory Maternity Pay will I get?
How do I claim Statutory Maternity Pay?
How and when is Statutory Maternity Pay paid?
Anything else I should know?
Maternity Pay checklist

Maternity Allowance
How much Maternity Allowance could I receive?
How do I claim Maternity Allowance?
How and when is Maternity Allowance paid?
Maternity Allowance checklist

Telling your employer
Telling your employer checklist

Starting maternity leave

Other benefits

How long do I get?
If you are pregnant and work full or part-time, you are entitled to take time off once your baby arrives. The duration of this depends on what you agree with your individual employer, but at the very least, you must take a minimum of two weeks off work immediately following the birth.

You have the right to 26 weeks of ‘Ordinary Maternity Leave' and 26 weeks of ‘Additional Maternity Leave', making one year in total. Provided you meet certain requirements (see below) you can take this regardless of how long you've been with your employer, how many hours you work, and how much you get paid. You continue to be an employee throughout your ordinary and additional maternity leave.

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Statutory Maternity Pay
Employers pay Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) to employees with new babies. To qualify you must have been with your company for at least 26 weeks at the 15^th week before the week of your due date and you must earn an average of at least £95 a week before tax.

How much will you get?
You'll receive 90% of your average weekly earnings for the first six weeks of your maternity leave. This then becomes the standard rate of £124.88 a week for the remaining 33 weeks (or a rate equal to 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever rate is lower).

In total, you'll be paid for 39 weeks while you're off on maternity leave. However, you're allowed to take up to 52 weeks off altogether, with the rest of the time being unpaid leave. Your employer may be more generous than this and pay you more than these basic entitlements, but this depends on their company policy.

Maternity Pay is not a state benefit, and therefore is subject to tax because it is viewed as replacement earnings for an employment income. It is treated as normal pay, so your employer will deduct tax and National Insurance as usual.

How do I claim Statutory Maternity Pay?
You need to tell your employer that you're pregnant. They'll also want to know the date you're planning to start your maternity leave. You need to do this at least 28 days before the date you want to start your Statutory Maternity Pay. You will need to provide your employer with this information in writing.

You can't start your Statutory Maternity Pay until the 11^th week before the baby is due and the latest it can start is the day before you're due to give birth. Remember, your 6 weeks at 90% start as soon as you go on maternity leave and this drops down to a standard rate after that, so this may influence when you decide to go on leave.

How & when is this paid?
You should receive Statutory Maternity Pay in the same way and at the same time as your normal wages.

Anything else I should know?
You can still claim Statutory Maternity Pay even if you do not intend to return to work after you have had your baby and you will not have to repay anything. If you get paid more than SMP by your employer, this may not be the case for any additional amounts above the statutory levels (see below).

If you leave your job or are made redundant after the start of the 15^th week before the week of your due date then, assuming you qualify in the first place, your employer is still required to pay you Statutory Maternity Pay.

Company maternity pay schemes
Some companies have their own maternity pay scheme, but they may require you to pay back some money if you don't come back to work at the end of this period. Check your contract of employment or staff handbook, or ask your employer's HR department.

Statutory Maternity Pay Checklist
You should receive Statutory Maternity Pay if you can answer ‘yes' to the following:

You are an employee of a company with a contract of employment

• The company has employed you for at least 26 weeks at the 15^th week before the week your baby is due
• You earn an average of at least £95 a week before tax

There are other benefits that you could be entitled to. Make sure you read our benefits section to find out more about these.

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Maternity Allowance
Maternity Allowance is paid by the state to self-employed women or those who find themselves between jobs or recently unemployed. If you don't qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay, it's likely that you will receive this instead.

How much do I get?
You'll receive £124.88 a week for 39 weeks (or a rate equal to 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever rate is lower). Maternity Allowance is not taxed.

You need to have been employed for at least 26 weeks of the ‘test period' (66 weeks up to and including the week your baby is due, a part week counts as a full week). You also need to have earned an average of at least £30 a week over any 13 weeks of your ‘test period'.

How do I claim this?
As soon as you've been pregnant for 26 weeks, you can claim Maternity Allowance. You'll need to supply proof of your pregnancy, which is normally form MATB1. Your doctor or midwife will give this to you at the earliest 20 weeks before the baby is born. You'll also need to provide evidence of your earnings if you have been employed or self-employed.

To get a claim form, contact Jobcentre Plus on 0800 055 6688 (8am-6pm Monday to Friday) or download a form at www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk or from the Jobs and Benefits Office if you're in Northern Ireland. You can call the Northern Ireland office on 0800 220 674 (9am-5pm Monday to Wednesday and Friday, 10am-5pm Thursday).

How & when is this paid?
Maternity Allowance can be paid weekly or every four weeks directly into your bank, building society, Post Office® or National Savings account as long as they accept Direct Payment.

The earliest you can receive this money is the 11^th week before the week your baby is due. The latest you can get it is from the day following your child's birth.

More information can be found in the leaflet NI 17A, ‘A Guide to Maternity Benefits', available from your Jobcentre Plus or Jobs and Benefits office in Northern Ireland.

Maternity Allowance Checklist
You should receive Maternity Allowance if you can answer ‘yes' to any of the following:

• You're employed but do not qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay
• You're self-employed and pay Class 2 National Insurance contributions
• You have a Small Earnings Exception certificate
• You are not employed but have worked close to or during your pregnancy

You must have:

• Been employed or self-employed for at least 26 of the 66 weeks before the week your baby was due (a part week counts as a full week)
• Earned an average of at least £30 a week over any 13 of those 66 weeks

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Telling your employer
It's up to you when you choose to tell work about your pregnancy, but you must do so before the 15^th week before your due date. You need to write a letter or email to your manager outlining the date you plan to go on leave. This should include your intention to claim Statutory Maternity Pay. To help you, take a look at our template letter below for your employer or speak to your HR department.

Copy the template below to the clipboard

At the same time, you should give your employer the official Government form which outlines your due date and proves you are pregnant. This is called form MATB1 and your doctor or midwife will give it to you.

It's very unlikely, but it can happen that you won't know you're pregnant until later in your term. Make sure you tell your employer as soon as you can if this happens to you.

Telling your employer checklist
You need to tell your employer the following:

• That you're pregnant
• Your due date
• When you want to start your maternity leave (you can change this date at a later stage as long as you give at least 28 days' notice)
• If you intend to claim Statutory Maternity Pay

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When can your maternity leave start?
The earliest your maternity leave can start is usually the 11^th week before the baby is due. You may want to continue earning for as long as you can, so you may wait to use this leave as late as possible in their pregnancy. However, sometimes health or personal circumstances mean it's best to start maternity leave sooner. However, the total length of time you can take is from when you start not from when your baby is born. Going on maternity leave early therefore means you'll have less paid time off after your baby is born.

If you want to change your maternity leave date once you've agreed it with your employer, you just need to give your employer at least 28 days' notice from the date you want to go off.

You don't need to take all of your maternity leave, but you must take at least two weeks (or four weeks if you work in a factory) of ‘compulsory maternity leave' after your baby is born.

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Other benefits
Many mums are also entitled to receive extra benefits when they are expecting and once their child is born, such as Child Tax Credits, Sure Start Maternity grants, Child Benefit and free prescriptions and dental treatment.

To find out exactly what you might be able to claim, take a look at the benefits section on this site.

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