What you are entitled to

The UK gives you two separate things, and they run on different clocks. Maternity leave is time off work. Maternity pay is money. You can qualify for one without the other, and plenty of people do.

Statutory Maternity Leave is 52 weeks: 26 weeks of Ordinary Maternity Leave followed by 26 weeks of Additional Maternity Leave. You do not have to take all of it, but you must take at least two weeks off after the birth — four weeks if you work in a factory. That block is Compulsory Maternity Leave and your employer commits an offence by letting you work through it.

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is 39 weeks, paid by your employer in the same way as your wages, with tax and National Insurance deducted. It splits into two stages:

First 6 weeks: 90% of your average weekly earnings before tax, with no upper limit.
Remaining 33 weeks: £194.32 a week, or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.

The £194.32 figure is the standard rate for the 2026 to 2027 tax year. HMRC applies it to SMP from 5 April 2026, one day earlier than the 6 April start date used for Statutory Paternity Pay, Shared Parental Pay and Statutory Neonatal Care Pay, which all sit at the same £194.32 weekly figure. Rates are reviewed every year, so check the figure against the tax year you will actually be paid in — if your leave straddles April, the rate changes mid-claim.

The last 13 weeks of your 52-week leave entitlement are unpaid unless your employer offers a contractual maternity scheme. Many do, and a contractual scheme cannot be worse than the statutory minimum.

Exact eligibility rules

For leave

You qualify for the full 52 weeks if you are an employee rather than a worker, and you give the correct notice. Nothing else matters. It does not depend on how long you have worked there, how many hours you do, or how much you earn. It is a day-one right — you could start a job on Monday and be entitled to 52 weeks' leave. Agency workers, most workers on zero-hours arrangements who are not employees, and the self-employed are excluded.

For pay

SMP is stricter. All three of these must be true:

You have worked for the same employer continuously for at least 26 weeks running into the qualifying week — the 15th week before the week your baby is due.
Your average weekly earnings are at least £129 a week before tax. That is the Lower Earnings Limit for National Insurance in 2026/27, and it moves each year.
You give the correct notice and proof of pregnancy.

Average weekly earnings are worked out over roughly the eight weeks up to and including the qualifying week, so a period of reduced hours or unpaid sick leave in that window can drag you under the threshold. If you have two jobs, each employer assesses you separately — you can receive SMP from both.

How and when to claim, and the deadlines

Nothing is automatic. Two separate notices are required, and the earlier one is easy to miss.

At least 15 weeks before your due date: tell your employer when the baby is due and when you want maternity leave to start. Your employer must write back within 28 days confirming your start and end dates.
At least 28 days before you want SMP to begin: give notice of the SMP start date, in writing if your employer asks.
Within 21 days of your SMP start date: supply proof of pregnancy. This is normally the MATB1 certificate, which a midwife or doctor can issue no earlier than 20 weeks before your due date. A letter from your midwife or GP also works.

Your employer then confirms the amount, start date and end date within 28 days. Leave cannot start earlier than 11 weeks before the expected week of childbirth, but it starts automatically the day after birth if the baby arrives early, and it is triggered automatically if you are off work with a pregnancy-related illness in the last four weeks before your due date.

What happens if you do not qualify

If your employer decides you are not entitled to SMP, they must give you form SMP1 within seven days of that decision, explaining why. Keep it — it is the gateway to the alternative.

Maternity Allowance is paid by the Department for Work and Pensions rather than an employer, and it exists for exactly this situation: self-employed people, recent job-changers, and anyone whose earnings sat below the SMP threshold. You can get up to 39 weeks at £194.32 a week or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is less. To qualify you must have been employed or registered self-employed for at least 26 weeks in the 66 weeks before your due date, and have earned at least £30 a week in any 13 of those weeks. The 13 weeks do not need to be consecutive.

A separate lower rate of £27 a week for up to 14 weeks covers people who do unpaid work for a spouse's or civil partner's business. Self-employed claimants receive between £27 and £194.32 depending on National Insurance contributions.

Claim on form MA1 from the 26th week of pregnancy. It can be backdated, but only if you claim within three months of your Maternity Allowance start date — claim late and you permanently lose the weeks before that window. Expect a decision in about 20 working days. You will need original payslips, a MATB1 or a letter confirming your due date, and your SMP1 if you were refused SMP.

The Sure Start Maternity Grant

If you or your partner receive certain benefits and this is your first child (or you are expecting multiples and already have children), you can claim a one-off £500 Sure Start Maternity Grant. It never has to be repaid and does not reduce other benefits. Claim between 11 weeks before your due date and six months after the birth. In Scotland this scheme does not apply — apply for the Pregnancy and Baby Payment instead.

Where to get help

GOV.UK runs a maternity entitlement calculator that works out leave dates, SMP and Maternity Allowance from your due date and earnings; it is the fastest way to sanity-check what you have been told. If your employer refuses SMP and you disagree with the SMP1 reasoning, HMRC's Statutory Payment Disputes Team can make a formal decision that binds your employer. Acas advises on maternity rights at work and on discrimination, and the charity Maternity Action runs a free advice line on pay and leave problems. GOV.UK is the governing authority for every figure on this page.

Maternity leave and pay in the UK