Maternity leave

Length of maternity leave

Pregnant employees are entitled to 26 weeks’ ordinary maternity leave, regardless of how long they have worked for their employer. Ordinary maternity leave is nominally paid leave.

 

Women who have completed 26 weeks’ continuous ser vice with their employer by the beginning of the 14th week before their expected week of childbirth (EWC) can take additional maternity leave. Additional maternity leave starts immediately after ordinary maternity leave and continues for a further 26 weeks. Additional maternity leave is usually unpaid although a woman may have contractual rights to pay during her period of additional maternity leave.

 

Notice to intention to take maternity leave

A pregnant employee must notify her employer of her intention to take maternity leave by the end of the 15th week before her EWC, unless this is not reasonably practical. She must tell her employer:

¨ That she is pregnant

¨ The week her baby is expected to be born

¨ When she wants her maternity leave to start

 

Maternity leave can be changed, providing that the employer is told 28 days in advance.

 

Employers are required to respond to notification of maternity leave within 28 days. An employer must write to his employee setting out the date of which he expects her to return to work if she takes her full entitlement to maternity leave.

 

The earliest date a woman can take her maternity leave is the beginning of the 11th week before her baby is due.

 

Returning to work after maternity week

There is no longer provision for an employer to write to a woman before the end of her ordinary maternity leave to ask the date on which her child is born, and whether she intends to return to work after her additional maternity leave. This means that a woman who intends to return to work a the end of her full maternity leave entitlement is not required to give any further notification to her employer.

 

An employee who wishes to return to work early from her maternity leave needs to give her employer 28 days notice of the date she wants to return to work.

 

Sickness trigger

A woman’s maternity leave starts automatically if she is absent from work for a pregnancy related illness during the 4 weeks before the start of her EWC, regardless of when she has said that she actually wants her maternity leave to start.

 

Statutory maternity pay and maternity allowance

From 6th April 2003 the standard rates of Statutory maternity pay and maternity allowance are £75.00 per week to £100.00, or 90% of the woman’s average earnings.

 

Under the new law, women either get:

¨ Statutory maternity pay from their employer worth 90% of their earnings for 6 weeks, followed by 20 weeks at £100.00 (or 90% of earnings for the full 26 weeks if this is less than £100.00 per week.

¨ Maternity allowance from their local job centre plus social security office worth £100.00 per week for 26 weeks (or 90% if their earnings for 26 weeks if this is less than £100.00.

 

 

These legal changes were brought into effect on 6th April 2003.