Maternity leave calculator

In order to qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay, a woman must have been working for her employer technically for 26 weeks by the end of the 'Qualifying Week' (this being 15 weeks before the expected week of childbirth). In effect, put simply, this is 41 weeks service by the baby's due date.

Statutory maternity pay is paid for the first 6 weeks at 90% of average weekly earnings, followed by a further 33 weeks at the lesser of 90% of average weekly earnings or the applicable statutory rate which varies each year. However, in order to calculate average earnings, you need to understand which period you are required to refer. This will be the period of 8 weeks running up to the qualifying week.

This is the last date by which the employee must inform the employer of the fact that they are pregnant, their expected week of childbirth (almost always submitted on a form MAT B1) and their intended maternity leave start date.

Maternity leave cannot ordinarily commence until this date (which is 11 weeks before the expected week of childbirth). However, if the baby is born before this date, maternity leave automatically starts on the day after childbirth.

Maternity leave will start automatically if the employee is absent from work for a pregnancy related reason on or after this date (which is 4 weeks before the expected week of childbirth).