Maternity, paternity and parental leave in United Kingdom

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How it works

Maternity leave is 26 weeks of ordinary plus 26 weeks of additional leave, available from day one of employment; two weeks after the birth are compulsory. Statutory Maternity Pay requires 26 weeks' service by the 15th week before the due date and is paid for 39 weeks — the first six at 90% of average weekly earnings with no cap, the remaining 33 at the flat weekly rate set each April (or 90% of earnings if that is lower). Employees who do not qualify may claim Maternity Allowance. Paternity leave is two weeks, which since 2024 can be taken as two separate weeks any time in the first year; the Employment Rights Act 2025 removed the 26-week qualifying period from 6 April 2026. Shared Parental Leave lets parents share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay if the mother curtails her maternity leave. Unpaid parental leave gives each parent 18 weeks per child, normally in blocks of up to four weeks a year, until the child is 18. Employers pay statutory pay through payroll and reclaim most or all of it from HMRC — small employers more than 100%.

If you run a team in United Kingdom

Confirm dates and eligibility in writing within 28 days of the notification. Pay SMP, SPP and ShPP through payroll and reclaim them via the Employment Payment Summary. Keep the job open: an employee returning from up to 26 weeks has the right to the same job, and after longer leave to the same or a suitable alternative. Annual leave accrues throughout, and pension contributions continue on the normal salary during paid leave. Since April 2026 employees returning from family leave have protection from dismissal for six months.

If you work in United Kingdom

Tell your employer by the 15th week before the due date when you want to start leave, and give 28 days' notice for paternity leave (or, since 2026, the notice period set out in the regulations). Your statutory pay is set each April — check the current flat rate on GOV.UK. Holiday keeps accruing while you are away; agree before you go how you will take it.

Parental leave and annual leave

Statutory holiday accrues in full during maternity, paternity, shared parental and unpaid parental leave. Holiday that could not be taken because of family leave carries forward for up to 18 months.

The annual leave entitlement itself is covered on our United Kingdom annual leave page — 28 working days minimum.

Keeping the record straight

Long leaves are where leave records go wrong quietly: holiday that kept accruing for months and was never credited, a return date nobody diarised, a reduced entitlement applied where the law forbids it. In United Kingdom the rules above decide what is owed on return, and the record has to show it. A tracker like Leavo keeps the leave, the accrual and the approvals in one place so the return is a date, not a dispute. We compare the options in our leave management software guide, and the policy side — carryover, payout, accrual — in our guides.

Source

Primary source: Employment Rights Act 1996, Part VIII; Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999; Employment Rights Act 2025. Benefit rates and ceilings change every year and collective agreements frequently improve on the statutory scheme — confirm against the current text before acting. See our methodology.