Maternity leave and pay checklist

Work out your qualifying week first

It’s the fifteenth week before the week your baby is due, and almost everything else is measured from it. Your notice deadline. Whether you have the twenty-six weeks of service you need. Whether your earnings clear the threshold.

Get that one date on paper and the rest of the sheet falls into place. It is the same fifteenth week that governs your right to paid time off for antenatal appointments. I worked mine out on the back of an envelope, got it wrong by a week, and moved my own notice deadline without realising.

Two things people don’t ask, and should

Ask for the maternity policy in writing. A good number of employers pay more than the statutory minimum, and it isn’t always advertised. Nobody will volunteer it if you don’t ask.

If you’re told you don’t qualify, ask for form SMP1. You need that form to claim Maternity Allowance from the DWP instead, and a verbal no leaves you with nothing to make a claim with. Not qualifying for statutory maternity pay isn’t a dead end, it’s a different form.

Hand over the MATB1

Your midwife or GP gives you the certificate from around twenty weeks. Your employer can’t pay you without it, and it’s remarkably easy to file it carefully somewhere and forget the entire thing until payday.

The rate changes every April

Which is why page two prints the current figure with the date it applied from, and then gives you a blank to write in whatever it is when you read this. Check gov.uk rather than trusting any printable, this one included.

When it goes wrong

Occasionally it does, and usually over the average weekly earnings calculation, which comes from the eight weeks of payslips ending with your qualifying week. Ask payroll to show you the working if the number looks wrong to you.

If you need help beyond that, Maternity Action, Working Families and Citizens Advice all run free advice lines, and Acas can help with a dispute at work. Those are on the sheet, because a printable isn’t the right tool for a problem with an employer.

The first two weeks after you know your dates

Put your leave dates in writing to your employer, and keep a copy of anything you send or receive. Check your contract and staff handbook for a company maternity scheme, because some pay more than the statutory minimum and the scheme may have its own rules about when pay starts. Ask HR how your holiday builds up during leave, and whether any bonus or pay review will be affected. Asking these questions early is far easier than sorting them out in month seven.

How statutory maternity pay works

Statutory maternity pay can be paid for up to 39 weeks. For the first six weeks it’s 90 per cent of your average weekly earnings before tax. For the remaining 33 weeks it’s either the flat weekly rate or 90 per cent of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower. The flat rate changes, so check gov.uk for the current figure rather than relying on a number you read somewhere else.

Keeping in touch days

You can do some work for your employer during your leave, usually as keeping in touch days. The number of days is limited, and the rules on how they’re paid are specific, so check the current gov.uk guidance before you agree anything. Agree them in writing before you do any work. Many people use one or two for a handover or a team meeting, and it’s worth knowing you can say no.

If you want to change your return date

If you want to come back to work on a different date from the one you first gave, you need to give your employer at least eight weeks’ notice. Put the change in writing. If your baby arrives early, the rules on leave dates are different, so read the gov.uk guidance on early birth before you assume anything.