Maternity leave and pay: the employer's guide
Notification, the 28-day reply, 52 weeks of leave, Statutory Maternity Pay and recovering it, risk assessments, keeping in touch, redundancy protection and the right to return.
Reviewed September 2026. Guidance, not legal advice: employment law moves, so check the current position before relying on any of it.
An employee telling you she is pregnant starts a set of duties with dates attached, and a period of about two years during which the law watches how you treat her more closely than at any other time. None of it is hard. Most of it is a calendar.
This guide covers notification and your reply, leave and pay, recovering SMP, health and safety, contact during leave, keeping in touch days, the redundancy protection, and the return. Pay rates change every April and are not quoted; the structure is.
Notification and your 28-day reply
By the end of the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth (the qualifying week), the employee must tell you that she is pregnant, the expected week of childbirth, and the date she wants her leave to start; the last in writing if you ask. She gives you the MAT B1 certificate from her midwife or GP, available from the 20th week. She can change the start date on 28 days' notice.
Within 28 days of her notice you must write back confirming the date her leave will end (52 weeks from the start unless she has said otherwise). This is the one letter in maternity that has a statutory deadline. The template on this site does it.
Leave: 52 weeks, from day one
Every employee is entitled to 26 weeks' ordinary maternity leave and 26 weeks' additional maternity leave, regardless of length of service. Leave can start no earlier than the 11th week before the expected week of childbirth, starts automatically the day after the birth if the baby comes early, and starts automatically if she is off with a pregnancy-related illness in the four weeks before the expected week. She must take at least two weeks after the birth (four if she works in a factory); the rest is hers to choose. To return early she gives eight weeks' notice.
The contract continues throughout: holiday accrues, benefits other than pay continue, service is continuous. She must be told about vacancies, pay reviews and anything else she would have heard about at work.
Statutory Maternity Pay
SMP is payable for 39 weeks to an employee who has been continuously employed for 26 weeks by the qualifying week and whose average weekly earnings in the eight weeks up to the qualifying week are at or above the lower earnings limit. The first six weeks are paid at 90% of average weekly earnings with no cap; the remaining 33 at the flat statutory rate or 90% of earnings if that is lower. SMP is paid through payroll like wages, subject to tax and National Insurance. An employee who does not qualify gets form SMP1 within seven days of your decision so she can claim Maternity Allowance.
Enhanced company maternity pay, if you offer it, sits on top and is set by your policy. A pay rise awarded during leave feeds into the SMP calculation (the Alabaster principle) and must be recalculated.
Recovering SMP
Employers recover SMP from HMRC through the Employer Payment Summary: 92% for most employers, and more than 100% (the full amount plus a compensation percentage) for small employers who qualify for Small Employers' Relief, based on the Class 1 National Insurance paid in the qualifying tax year. Check the current threshold and rate on gov.uk; most businesses under about 20 staff qualify. Advance funding is available if the SMP exceeds the PAYE you would otherwise pay.
Health and safety
Once notified in writing, you must review the risk assessment for her role with pregnancy in mind: manual handling, standing, chemicals, night work, working alone, stress. Where a risk cannot be removed, alter her conditions or hours; if that is not possible, offer suitable alternative work; if none exists, suspend her on full pay. She is entitled to paid time off for antenatal appointments, and her partner to unpaid time off for two.
Contact and keeping in touch days
Reasonable contact during leave is expected and welcome; agree how she wants it. Up to ten keeping in touch days can be worked by agreement without ending leave or SMP for that week: training, a team day, a handover. Pay for KIT days is whatever you agree, offset against SMP for that week. Neither side can insist on them.
Redundancy protection
From the point she tells you she is pregnant until 18 months after the birth, an employee has priority for any suitable alternative vacancy in a redundancy situation, ahead of colleagues, without competitive interview. Dismissing her for a reason connected with pregnancy or maternity is automatically unfair and discriminatory from day one. A redundancy during this period is possible if genuine, but it is the most scrutinised decision an employer makes; take advice.
The return
After ordinary maternity leave she returns to the same job on the same terms. After additional maternity leave she returns to the same job, or if that is not reasonably practicable, a suitable alternative on terms no less favourable. She may make a flexible working request before returning, and many do; handle it under the statutory process. Untaken holiday accrued during leave is taken on return or added to the leave.
The checklist
- Notification recorded: pregnancy, expected week, intended start; MAT B1 filed.
- Reply within 28 days confirming the end date.
- Risk assessment reviewed and adjustments made; antenatal appointments paid.
- SMP eligibility checked; SMP1 issued if not eligible; payroll set up for 90% then flat rate.
- SMP recovered through the EPS at the correct percentage.
- Contact plan agreed; KIT days recorded; vacancies and pay reviews communicated.
- Redundancy priority noted on any restructuring during the protected period.
- Return date confirmed; same job back; flexible working request handled under the statutory process.
What the law says
- Employment Rights Act 1996 ss.71 to 75 and Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999: leave, notice, the 28-day reply, KIT days, return rights.
- Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 Part XII and Statutory Maternity Pay (General) Regulations 1986: SMP.
- Statutory Maternity Pay (Compensation of Employers) and Miscellaneous Amendment Regulations 1994: recovery and Small Employers' Relief.
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 regs.16 to 18: new and expectant mothers.
- Equality Act 2010 s.18; Employment Rights Act 1996 s.99; Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 and the 2024 Regulations: protection and priority.
Questions people ask
What if she does not tell me until late in the pregnancy?
The 15th-week deadline is for entitlement to leave on her chosen date; if she misses it for a good reason she must tell you as soon as reasonably practicable. Health and safety duties start when you know. In practice, accept the notice and reply within 28 days.
Can I contact her about work while she is on leave?
Reasonable contact, yes, and you must tell her about things that affect her: vacancies, restructures, pay reviews. What you cannot do is expect her to work without agreeing a KIT day, or pressure her about her return date.
Can I recruit a permanent replacement?
You can cover the role with a fixed-term contract that ends on her return. If you recruit permanently and there is no job for her to return to, that is a dismissal connected with maternity leave, and it is automatically unfair.
Does she accrue holiday for the whole 52 weeks?
Yes, statutory and contractual. A full year of leave builds a full year of holiday, to be taken on return or agreed around the leave. Plan for it in the return conversation.
The admin this guide describes, done for you
Work-Lynx holds the records, calculates the entitlements, drafts the letters and reminds you of the dates: 49 UK policies, GPS clock-in, rotas, leave, timesheets, payslips and Employ AI for the questions in between. £2.50 a month plus £1 per employee, 14 days free, no card.
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