Maternity leave and maternity pay

Laura Merrylees Editor's message: With women constituting around half of the UK workforce, and the majority becoming pregnant at some point during their working life, most employers will need to manage employees through the transition from pregnancy to maternity leave, and then back to work, on a regular basis.

Regardless of length of service, all pregnant employees are entitled to a year's statutory maternity leave. However, entitlement to statutory maternity pay is limited to those with at least 26 weeks' service into the qualifying week and average weekly earnings of at least the lower earnings limit for national insurance purposes. Statutory maternity pay is payable for 39 weeks - six weeks at 90% of the employee's average earnings, followed by the remainder at a lower flat rate. However, many organisations choose to offer enhanced maternity pay above the statutory minimum, viewing this as a key way of improving the maternity experience for employees, and ensuring that the organisation retains their skills and experience in the longer term.

Laura Merrylees, employment law editor

New and updated

Maternity allowance

Type:

Statutory rates

Updated to include the proposed maternity allowance rates for 2020/2021.
Statutory maternity pay

Type:

Statutory rates

Updated to include the proposed statutory maternity pay rates for 2020/2021.
Maternity pay

Type:

Employment law manual

Updated to include the proposed rate of statutory maternity pay and maternity allowance for 2020/21.
Maternity policy

Type:

Policies and documents

Updated to include the proposed rate of statutory maternity pay for 2020/21.
Letter responding to an employee who has notified their intention to take maternity leave

Type:

Policies and documents

Updated to include the proposed rate of statutory maternity pay for 2020/21.
Letter explaining the right to statutory maternity pay

Type:

Policies and documents

Updated to include the proposed rate of statutory maternity pay for 2020/21.
Letter informing an employee that their statutory maternity pay has been recalculated

Type:

Policies and documents

Updated to include the proposed rate of statutory maternity pay for 2020/21.
April 2020 statutory maternity, paternity and sick pay rates published

Date:

9 January 2020

Type:

News

The Government has published the proposed statutory rates for maternity pay, paternity pay, shared parental pay, adoption pay and sick pay from April 2020.
Calculators on XpertHR

Type:

Quick reference

Revised to reflect that the redundancy pay calculator has been updated with the predicted maximum amount of a week’s pay effective from 6 April 2020.
Enhanced redundancy protection for pregnant employees and new parents: Overview for employers

Date:

21 August 2019

Type:

Legal guidance

The Government is pressing ahead with plans to extend the period during which pregnant employees and new parents are entitled to be offered any suitable alternative vacancy if they are being made redundant. We look at how the law will change and the headaches that the amendments could cause for employers.

About this topic

HR and legal information and guidance relating to maternity leave and maternity pay.