Maternity Pay And Leave - GOV.UK

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1. Home
2. Benefits
3. Benefits and financial support for families

Maternity pay and leave Skip contents

Contents

1. Overview
2. Leave
3. Pay
4. Eligibility
5. How to claim
6. Extra help

Leave

Statutory Maternity Leave is 52 weeks. It’s made up of:

• Ordinary Maternity Leave - first 26 weeks
• Additional Maternity Leave - last 26 weeks

You do not have to take 52 weeks but you must take 2 weeks’ leave after your baby is born (or 4 weeks if you work in a factory).

Use the maternity planner to work out the dates for your ordinary and additional leave.

You may be entitled to take some of your leave as Shared Parental Leave.

Start date and early births

Usually, the earliest you can start your leave is 11 weeks before the expected week of childbirth.

Leave will also start:

• the day after the birth if the baby is early
• automatically if you’re off work for a pregnancy-related illness in the 4 weeks before the week (Sunday to Saturday) that your baby is due

Use the maternity planner to work out the earliest date your maternity leave can start.

Change your date for returning to work

You must give your employer at least 8 weeks’ notice if you want to change your return to work date.

Previous:Overview Next:Pay View a printable version of the whole guide

Related content

• Employee rights when taking maternity and other types of parental leave
• Pregnant employees' rights
• Sure Start Maternity Grant

Explore the topic

• Benefits and financial support for families
• Holidays, time off, sick leave, maternity and paternity leave
• Financial help if you have children
• Pregnancy and birth

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