See what your maternity leave really pays — week by week, after tax, and including the employer scheme most calculators ignore.
Statutory Maternity Pay is based on your average weekly earnings over the eight weeks up to the 15th week before your due date, so a bonus or overtime in that window can raise it.
Leave can start any time from 11 weeks before your due date. It starts automatically if the baby arrives early, or if you are off sick with a pregnancy-related illness in the last four weeks.
A common occupational scheme is 8 weeks full pay then 18 weeks half pay plus SMP. Leave both at 0 for the statutory minimum.
Your contribution drops with your pay, but your employer must keep paying theirs on your full salary throughout paid leave.
| Period | A week | A month | Total |
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| Gross | Tax | NI | Take-home |
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Statutory Maternity Pay has a simple shape and an awkward tail. The first six weeks pay 90% of your average weekly earnings, with no upper limit at all. The next 33 weeks pay £194.32 a week, or 90% of your earnings if that is lower. That is 39 paid weeks out of a possible 52 weeks of leave, so the last 13 weeks are unpaid unless your employer offers something better.
The drop between week six and week seven is the part that surprises people. Someone earning £34,000 goes from about £588 a week to £194.32 — roughly a third of their normal pay, arriving just as the costs of a new baby land. Knowing the exact week that happens, and the exact figure, is the difference between a plan and a shock.
Maternity pay is earnings. Income tax, National Insurance and pension contributions all come off it exactly as they come off salary, so a gross figure is not what reaches your account. Most maternity calculators stop at gross.
The good news is that the arithmetic works in your favour. The flat rate annualises to £10,105, which sits below both the £12,570 Personal Allowance and the National Insurance threshold — so months spent on flat-rate SMP usually carry no tax and no National Insurance at all. And because PAYE settles across the whole tax year rather than month by month, a mid-year drop in income means the tax already deducted was too much. Most people on maternity leave are owed a refund, and it arrives automatically through payroll as reduced deductions in the maternity months. You do not have to claim it — but it is worth knowing it should be there, because if you leave the job during your leave the balance may never work through.
Plenty of employers pay more than the statutory minimum — a common pattern is eight weeks at full pay, then 18 weeks at half pay plus SMP, then the balance. That is worth thousands, and it is set by your contract rather than by law. Two clauses are worth finding before you plan around it: whether the enhanced part is repayable if you do not return to work for a minimum period, and whether it is based on basic pay or includes your allowances.
If you do not qualify for SMP — because you changed jobs recently, are self-employed, or earn under the £129 Lower Earnings Limit — Maternity Allowance is the fallback, and most people who miss out on SMP get it. It pays the same £194.32 flat rate for 39 weeks, comes from the DWP rather than your employer, and unlike SMP it is free of tax and National Insurance. You claim it on form MA1 from the 26th week of pregnancy.
One last thing worth checking: while you are receiving maternity pay, your employer must keep paying pension contributions based on your full normal salary, not the reduced amount you are actually getting. Your own contributions fall with your pay; theirs should not. Our pension tax relief calculator shows what those contributions are worth, and Maternity Action runs a free advice line if something looks wrong.
SMP runs for 39 weeks. The first six weeks are paid at 90% of your average weekly earnings with no upper limit, and the remaining 33 weeks at £194.32 a week or 90% of your earnings, whichever is lower. If you earn less than about £216 a week the 90% figure stays below the flat rate, so you get 90% for the whole 39 weeks. Maternity leave itself lasts up to 52 weeks, so the last 13 weeks are unpaid unless your employer offers more.
Yes. Statutory Maternity Pay counts as earnings, so income tax, National Insurance and any pension contributions come off it exactly as they do from salary. This is the single biggest thing missing from most maternity calculators, which show you a gross figure. The saving grace is that the flat rate works out at £10,105 a year — below both the Personal Allowance and the National Insurance threshold — so months spent on the flat rate usually carry no tax and no NI at all.
Very often, yes. PAYE calculates your tax across the whole tax year rather than month by month, so when your income drops partway through the year the tax already taken turns out to be more than you owed. The correction normally happens automatically through payroll: your maternity months show reduced deductions or an outright refund. You should not need to claim it. If you leave the job during your leave, though, the balance may not work through — check your P45 against a full-year calculation.
Two tests, both taken at the qualifying week, which is the 15th week before the week your baby is due:
You also have to give the right notice and proof of pregnancy. If you fail either test, Maternity Allowance is the fallback and most people who miss out on SMP qualify for it.
Maternity Allowance is paid by the DWP rather than your employer, and it is the route for anyone who does not qualify for SMP — people who changed jobs recently, the self-employed, and those earning under the Lower Earnings Limit. If you are employed or recently stopped work it is worth £194.32 a week or 90% of your average earnings, whichever is lower, for up to 39 weeks. The self-employed get between £27 and £194.32 depending on the National Insurance they have paid. The big difference: Maternity Allowance is not taxable and carries no National Insurance, so the full amount is yours. Claim on form MA1 from the 26th week of pregnancy. It can affect Universal Credit, which SMP also does.
Occupational or contractual maternity schemes are common in the NHS, teaching, the civil service and larger private employers. A typical one pays 8 weeks at full pay, then 18 weeks at half pay plus SMP, then the balance of SMP. The half-pay stage is usually capped so that half pay plus SMP does not exceed your normal full pay. Two things worth checking in your contract: whether the enhanced element is repayable if you do not return to work for a minimum period, and whether it is calculated on your basic pay or includes allowances.
Your own contributions normally drop, because they are a percentage of what you are actually paid. Your employer’s contributions do not: while you are receiving any maternity pay they must keep contributing at the level based on your full normal salary, not your reduced pay. During any unpaid part of the leave, employer contributions can stop. If you are in a salary-sacrifice arrangement the rules differ again — sacrifice cannot reduce your pay below the SMP rate, so employers usually suspend it during leave.
Any time from 11 weeks before the week your baby is due. It starts automatically if the baby arrives early, or if you are off work with a pregnancy-related illness in the four weeks before your due week. You must take at least two weeks off after the birth — four if you work in a factory — and that part is compulsory rather than optional.
Yes, up to ten keeping in touch days. You can work up to ten days during your maternity leave without it ending your leave or stopping your SMP, and they are paid at a rate you agree with your employer. Both sides have to agree — your employer cannot require you to work them, and you cannot insist on them. Going over ten days does end your SMP, so keep count.
Shared Parental Leave lets you convert up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay so your partner can take some of it. Statutory Shared Parental Pay is the same £194.32 a week or 90% of earnings, whichever is lower. It is worth comparing carefully if your employer’s enhanced maternity scheme is generous, because enhanced maternity pay is often not matched by an equally generous shared parental scheme — converting can cost the household money even though the leave is more evenly split.
All free and independent:
It is unlawful to select someone for redundancy because they are pregnant or on maternity leave, and since April 2024 that protection extends for 18 months from birth. If that is happening, take advice quickly — tribunal time limits are short.
Your employer keeps paying into your pension on your full salary while you are on maternity pay — see what that is worth.
