Maternity and Paternity Leave in the UK (2026): Pay, Rules and Employer Cost

UK law gives employees a separate statutory right for each family event: maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption, neonatal care, parental bereavement and unpaid parental leave. The right to take leave and the right to be paid for it have different qualifying rules, so check both for every case.

The rules below apply to employees in England, Scotland and Wales, and the pay rates are those in force for the 2026/27 tax year, set out by HMRC in its rates and thresholds for employers. Northern Ireland runs its own family leave legislation. For the wider picture of employing in Britain, from payroll to contracts, see the United Kingdom hiring guide.

Every flat rate is "£194.32 or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower". Paid leave other than shared parental leave needs 26 weeks' continuous service by a set qualifying week and average weekly earnings of at least £129, the 2026/27 lower earnings limit.

An employee can take up to 52 weeks of statutory maternity leave, whatever her length of service. The first 26 weeks are Ordinary Maternity Leave and the next 26 are Additional Maternity Leave, a split that matters for her right to return to the same job.

Leave can start up to 11 weeks before the expected week of childbirth. If the baby is born early, leave starts the day after the birth, and leave also starts automatically if she is off work for a pregnancy-related reason in the four weeks before the due week.

The employee must take at least two weeks off after the birth, or four weeks if she works in a factory. She keeps the right to leave and pay if the baby is stillborn after the start of the 24th week of pregnancy or dies after being born.

Pregnant employees get reasonable paid time off for antenatal care from their first day. A partner can take unpaid time off to attend up to two antenatal appointments, of up to six and a half hours each.

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) runs for 39 weeks: 90% of average weekly earnings for the first six weeks, with no cap, then £194.32 a week or 90% of earnings if lower for the remaining 33 weeks. The rate rose from £187.18 and applies from 5 April 2026, according to gov.uk employer guidance.

SMP goes through payroll like normal pay, with income tax and National Insurance deducted. The last 13 weeks of the 52-week leave are unpaid unless the contract offers more.

The employee must have at least 26 weeks' continuous employment up to any day in the qualifying week, the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth, and still be on the payroll in that week. Her average weekly earnings over the eight-week relevant period ending with the qualifying week must be at least £129, the 2026/27 lower earnings limit.

If she misses either test she can still take the full 52 weeks of leave, and claims Maternity Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions instead: £194.32 a week or 90% of earnings if lower, for up to 39 weeks. That costs the employer nothing beyond issuing form SMP1.

Fathers and partners can take up to two weeks of statutory paternity leave, and from 6 April 2026 that is a day-one right under the Employment Rights Act 2025. Before that date an employee needed 26 weeks' service by the qualifying week to take any paternity leave at all.

Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) is £194.32 a week or 90% of average weekly earnings if lower, for up to two weeks. Pay did not become a day-one right: the employee still needs 26 weeks' continuous service by the end of the qualifying week, average earnings of at least £129 and employment up to the birth, as gov.uk sets out.

The 2024 reforms added flexibility for babies due on or after 6 April 2024. The 2026 changes removed the service test for leave and the rule that paternity leave had to come before any shared parental leave.

Where the mother or primary adopter dies in the child's first year, on or after 6 April 2026, the father or partner can take up to 52 weeks of bereaved partner's paternity leave if they take on the main care of the child. It is a day-one right with no statutory pay attached.

Shared parental leave (SPL) lets parents split up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of Statutory Shared Parental Pay between them in the child's first year. The mother must end her maternity leave and pay early to create it: after 22 weeks of maternity leave and pay, for example, 30 weeks of leave and 17 weeks of pay remain to share.

Statutory Shared Parental Pay is £194.32 a week or 90% of earnings if lower. Unlike maternity pay, there is no six-week period at 90% of full earnings, which is why many families still use the maternity allowance of leave first.

Each parent on SPL can also work up to 20 shared parental leave in touch (SPLIT) days, on top of the 10 keeping in touch days available during maternity leave. Your employee, and their partner with their own employer, each claim on the leave they are eligible for, so two employers are often handling one family's plan.

Adoption leave mirrors maternity leave: 52 weeks for the primary adopter from day one, and 39 weeks of Statutory Adoption Pay, with six weeks at 90% of average earnings and 33 weeks at £194.32 or 90% if lower. The partner can take paternity leave and pay on the same terms as for a birth.

For pay, the employee needs 26 weeks' continuous service by the week they are matched with a child and average earnings of at least £129. Intended parents in a surrogacy arrangement count service to the 15th week before the due date and must intend to apply for a parental order.

Since 6 April 2025, parents of a baby admitted to neonatal care within 28 days of birth, for seven or more full consecutive days, can take one week of neonatal care leave for each full week of care, up to 12 weeks. It is a day-one right, sits on top of maternity, paternity and shared parental leave, and must be taken within 68 weeks of the birth, as Acas explains.

Statutory Neonatal Care Pay is £194.32 a week or 90% of earnings if lower, for employees with 26 weeks' service and earnings of at least £129.

An employee whose child dies before age 18, or who has a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy, can take two weeks of parental bereavement leave from day one, together or as two single weeks, within 56 weeks of the death. Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay is £194.32 a week or 90% of earnings if lower, with 26 weeks' service and average earnings of at least £129.

Each parent can take 18 weeks of unpaid parental leave for each child, up to the child's 18th birthday, and from 6 April 2026 this is a day-one right. Until then employees needed one year's service.

The default rules cap leave at four weeks per child per year and require it to be taken in whole weeks, unless the employer agrees otherwise or the child is disabled. The employee gives 21 days' notice of the start and end dates.

An employer can postpone the leave for a significant business reason, such as serious disruption, by explaining the reason in writing within seven days of the request and offering new dates no more than six months later. It cannot postpone leave a father or partner asks to take straight after a birth or adoption, or delay leave past the child's 18th birthday, according to gov.uk.

Employers recover most statutory family pay from HMRC by deducting it from the PAYE and National Insurance they would otherwise pay over. The standard recovery rate is 92% of the statutory payment. A small employer, whose total Class 1 National Insurance (employee and employer, before the Employment Allowance) was £45,000 or less in the last complete tax year, reclaims 109%.

The extra 9% for small employers compensates for the employer National Insurance due on the statutory pay. It rose from 8.5% to 9% on 6 April 2026, as reported by the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals, and was 3% before April 2025.

The statutory pay itself is mostly refunded, so the real cost of a family leave sits in the National Insurance on that pay, pension contributions during paid leave, any enhanced pay you offer and the cost of cover. The example below is an employee on £45,000 a year taking 39 weeks of SMP in 2026/27 with an employer that does not qualify for Small Employers' Relief.

Her average weekly earnings are £865.38, so the first six weeks pay £778.85 a week, £4,673.08 in all, and the next 33 weeks pay £194.32, £6,412.56 in all. Total SMP is £11,085.64, of which the employer reclaims 92%, £10,198.79.

National Insurance is worked weekly at the 2026/27 employer rate of 15% above the £96 secondary threshold. The pension line assumes the auto-enrolment minimum of 3% of qualifying earnings between £6,240 and £50,270, which an employer must keep paying on normal pay during paid maternity leave.

Two items are left out because they vary by employer. Holiday keeps accruing through all 52 weeks, so the employee returns with at least 5.6 weeks of statutory leave to take, and any enhanced maternity pay is a full cost with no HMRC refund. Two weeks of SPP for a partner on the same salary costs £388.64, of which £357.55 is reclaimed at 92%.

To model the full monthly cost of a UK hire, including employer NI, pension and EOR fees, use the EOR cost calculator.

Each leave type has its own notice rule, and missing one can let an employer refuse statutory pay but rarely the leave itself. Notice does not need to be in writing for maternity leave unless the employer asks for it, while shared parental leave notices must be written.

Proof is usually the MATB1 certificate, which a midwife or doctor can issue from about 20 weeks before the due date. You do not have to pay SMP if you have not received proof of the due date within 13 weeks of the SMP start date. Keep SMP records, including the proof, for three years after the end of the tax year they relate to.

An employee on maternity or adoption leave can work up to 10 keeping in touch (KIT) days without ending her leave or losing statutory pay for that week, and each parent on shared parental leave can work up to 20 SPLIT days. Both sides must agree: you cannot require KIT days, and the employee cannot insist on them.

Pay for KIT days is a matter for agreement. Most employers pay the normal daily rate for each day worked, offsetting the SMP already paid for that week.

All terms other than pay continue during statutory leave: holiday accrues in full, company car and phone stay, and employer pension contributions continue during paid leave on the basis of normal pay. A pay rise backdated into the eight-week relevant period means SMP has to be recalculated, and paid again at the higher rate where it makes a difference.

After Ordinary Maternity Leave the employee returns to the same job. After Additional Maternity Leave she returns to the same job, or to a suitable and appropriate alternative on terms no less favourable if the original role is not reasonably practicable. Requests for part-time or flexible work on return follow the day-one statutory flexible working procedure.

Dismissing an employee because of pregnancy, maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental or other family leave is automatically unfair from day one, with no qualifying period. Pregnancy and maternity are also protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010, so a dismissal or detriment can lead to an uncapped discrimination award.

For other dismissals, the Employment Rights Act 2025 cuts the qualifying period for ordinary unfair dismissal from two years to six months where the termination date is on or after 1 January 2027, and removes the cap on the compensatory award.

Since 6 April 2024, an employee at risk of redundancy has priority for any suitable alternative vacancy from the moment she tells you she is pregnant until 18 months after the birth. The same 18-month protection follows the start of an adoption placement and six or more continuous weeks of shared parental leave, as Acas sets out.

Sponsored foreign workers keep these rights. Home Office sponsor guidance lets a sponsor reduce a Skilled Worker visa holder's pay to statutory family pay during maternity, paternity, adoption or shared parental leave without breaching the visa salary rules.

Many UK employers pay more than the statutory minimum, and candidates for professional roles often ask about it at offer stage. In an XpertHR survey of 375 organisations in 2021, about 68% offered some enhancement to maternity, paternity or shared parental pay, and full pay for more than six weeks was the most common maternity approach.

Typical structures pay a set number of weeks at full pay, then a period at half pay plus SMP, then SMP alone. Enhanced paternity pay usually means the full two weeks at normal salary. Some employers match enhanced maternity pay for shared parental leave, which reduces the risk of a sex discrimination challenge and widens take-up.

Enhanced pay is a contractual benefit, so an employer can set a service requirement and ask the employee to repay the enhancement if she does not return for an agreed period, often six to twelve months. SMP itself can never be clawed back. Any HMRC recovery applies only to the statutory element.

A company without a UK entity can hire through an employer of record, which becomes the legal employer, runs payroll, pays statutory family pay and reclaims it from HMRC. The family leave rights are the same as for any UK employee, so the EOR carries the legal duty while the client usually carries the cost.

Most EOR contracts pass gross statutory pay, employer NI, pension and any enhancement through to the client each month. Because a large EOR's National Insurance bill is far above £45,000, it recovers at 92%, so check in writing whether that refund is credited back to you or kept as part of the fee.

Ask the provider how it handles notice deadlines, forms SMP1 and SPP1, KIT day pay, enhanced pay policies and the 18-month redundancy protection if you end the engagement. Our ranking of the best EOR providers in the UK compares how providers price and manage these obligations.

Foreign hires also need the right to work: the Skilled Worker visa sponsorship guide covers whether an EOR can sponsor, and our guide to EOR visas and work permits covers other routes. If you are weighing contractors instead, read IR35 for foreign employers first. The UK hiring guide brings together costs, contracts, payroll and termination rules for the whole country.

Short answers to what employers ask most about UK family leave, pay and cost, checked against gov.uk and HMRC guidance on 24 October 2026.