UK Maternity & Paternity Leave 2026: Complete Employer Guide

Family leave is one of the most complex areas of UK employment law, combining statutory entitlements, pay calculations, notification deadlines, and protection from detriment or dismissal. Getting it wrong exposes your business to automatic unfair dismissal claims — one of the few categories where there is no qualifying service period.

This guide covers maternity leave, paternity leave, and shared parental leave from the employer's perspective, with the practical detail you need to manage each stage correctly.

Maternity leave: the basics

Every pregnant employee is entitled to up to 52 weeks of maternity leave, regardless of length of service. This is split into two periods:

• Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML): The first 26 weeks
• Additional Maternity Leave (AML): The next 26 weeks

The employee does not need to take all 52 weeks, but she must take a minimum of 2 weeks after the birth (4 weeks if she works in a factory).

When maternity leave starts

The employee chooses when to start maternity leave, but it cannot begin earlier than 11 weeks before the expected week of childbirth (EWC). Maternity leave is automatically triggered if the employee is absent from work for a pregnancy-related illness in the 4 weeks before the EWC, or if the baby is born early.

Notification requirements

The employee must notify you of her pregnancy and intended start date of maternity leave by the 15th week before the EWC (roughly the 25th week of pregnancy). She must tell you the expected week of childbirth, the date she wants maternity leave to start, and provide a MATB1 certificate (issued by her midwife or GP at around 20 weeks).

You must respond within 28 days, confirming the date her maternity leave will end. If you fail to respond, you cannot enforce any requirement for her to give notice before returning early.

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)

SMP is paid for up to 39 weeks. To qualify, the employee must have been continuously employed by you for at least 26 weeks by the 15th week before the EWC, and her average weekly earnings must be at least equal to the Lower Earnings Limit for NI purposes (£123 per week for 2025/26).

Calculating average weekly earnings

Average weekly earnings (AWE) are calculated over the 8-week period ending with the last normal pay date on or before the Saturday of the qualifying week (the 15th week before the EWC). For monthly-paid employees, use the two monthly pay periods that fall within or end in this 8-week window.

Include salary, overtime, bonuses, arrears of pay, and SSP in the calculation. Do not include benefits in kind, employer pension contributions, or salary sacrifice deductions.

Recovering SMP

Most employers can recover 92% of the SMP they pay out from HMRC, by offsetting it against their PAYE, NI, and student loan payments. Small employers (those who paid £45,000 or less in Class 1 NI in the qualifying tax year) can recover 100% of SMP plus an additional 3% compensation — effectively 103%.

Recovery is claimed through your Employer Payment Summary (EPS) submitted as part of PAYE Real Time Information.

Maternity Allowance

If the employee does not qualify for SMP (for example, she has not been employed long enough), she may be eligible for Maternity Allowance, which is paid by Jobcentre Plus. You should provide her with form SMP1 explaining why she does not qualify for SMP, so she can claim Maternity Allowance instead.

Paternity leave and pay

Eligible employees can take up to 2 weeks of paternity leave following the birth or adoption of a child. The leave must be taken in a single block of either 1 or 2 weeks — it cannot be taken as individual days.

Qualifying conditions for paternity leave

The employee must have at least 26 weeks' continuous service by the 15th week before the EWC, be the biological father, the mother's spouse or partner, or the intended parent in a surrogacy arrangement, and have responsibility for the child's upbringing.

Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP)

SPP is paid at £187.18 per week or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. The same Lower Earnings Limit applies as for SMP (£123 per week).

Notification

The employee must give at least 15 weeks' notice before the EWC of their intention to take paternity leave. They must confirm the expected week of childbirth, whether they want 1 or 2 weeks' leave, and the date they want the leave to start.

Shared Parental Leave (ShPL)

Shared Parental Leave allows eligible parents to share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay between them. The mother must curtail her maternity leave early for ShPL to be available.

How ShPL works

The total amount of leave and pay available depends on how much maternity leave and SMP the mother has already taken. She must take at least 2 weeks of maternity leave. The remaining leave and pay can be shared between the parents in whatever pattern they agree.

For example, if the mother takes 20 weeks of maternity leave and 20 weeks of SMP, the couple have 32 weeks of ShPL and 17 weeks of ShPP available to share.

Qualifying conditions

Both parents must meet eligibility criteria. The parent taking ShPL must have at least 26 weeks' continuous employment by the 15th week before the EWC and still be employed by you when the leave is taken. The other parent must have worked for at least 26 weeks in the 66 weeks before the EWC and earned at least £30 per week in 13 of those weeks (the "employment and earnings test").

Notification and booking

Parents must give at least 8 weeks' notice before each block of ShPL. They can submit up to 3 booking notices. Continuous blocks of leave must be accepted. Discontinuous blocks (leave with gaps of work in between) can be refused — you can offer alternative dates or the employee can withdraw the request.

Rights during family leave

Employees on maternity, paternity, or shared parental leave retain important rights that employers must respect.

Protection from detriment and dismissal

It is automatically unfair to dismiss an employee because of pregnancy, maternity leave, or for taking paternity or shared parental leave. These are "day-one" rights — no qualifying service is needed to bring a claim. Compensation is uncapped.

Redundancy during maternity leave

If a redundancy situation arises while an employee is on maternity leave, she has a right to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy in priority over other employees. This is a stronger right than other employees have — she must be offered the alternative role without having to compete for it, provided it is suitable and appropriate.

This enhanced redundancy protection now extends from the point the employee notifies you of pregnancy until 18 months after the birth (for maternity leave that started on or after 6 April 2024).

Terms and conditions

During ordinary maternity leave, all contractual terms continue except remuneration. The employee continues to accrue annual holiday, pension contributions continue on the basis of normal pay (not reduced SMP), and contractual benefits such as private medical insurance continue.

During additional maternity leave, the position is slightly different — some contractual benefits may not continue depending on the contract. However, holiday accrual continues throughout the full 52 weeks. See our managing annual leave guide and statutory holiday entitlement guide for how to handle holiday accrued during family leave.

Keeping in touch (KIT) and SPLIT days

Employees on maternity leave can work up to 10 "keeping in touch" (KIT) days without ending their maternity leave or losing SMP. These are voluntary for both sides — you cannot require attendance, and the employee cannot insist on working.

KIT days are useful for team meetings, training, project handovers, or gradually easing back into work. Payment for KIT days is a matter for agreement, but any work done on a KIT day counts as a full day.

Employees on shared parental leave have a separate entitlement to 20 "shared parental leave in touch" (SPLIT) days on the same basis.

Managing the process: practical steps

1. When notified of pregnancy: Acknowledge the notification, conduct a workplace risk assessment (a legal requirement), and start planning cover arrangements
2. By the 15th week before EWC: Receive the formal maternity leave notification and MATB1 certificate. Respond within 28 days confirming the end date of leave
3. Before leave starts: Agree KIT day arrangements, handover plan, and communication preferences
4. During leave: Maintain reasonable contact, offer KIT days as appropriate, continue processing pension contributions and benefits
5. Return to work: The employee has the right to return to the same job after OML, or a suitable alternative after AML. Plan the return in advance and conduct a return-to-work meeting

Frequently asked questions

Next steps

Key takeaways

Family leave requires careful planning, precise notification handling, and clear communication. The key compliance points are: respond to maternity leave notifications within 28 days, calculate SMP correctly using the right earnings period, process your SMP recovery through RTI, protect employees from detriment during and after leave, and offer priority redeployment in redundancy situations. Get these fundamentals right and you will meet your legal obligations while supporting your employees through a major life event.