Overview
If you’re thinking of having a baby or if you’re pregnant (congratulations!), then we know time off is important. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve worked for us or how many hours a week you work, you’re still entitled to 52 weeks of maternity leave.
FYI - your leave entitlement doesn’t change if you have more than one child e.g. twins (sorry!)
Taking maternity leave
When to tell us
To claim statutory leave and pay, you need to tell us the details requested below at least 15 weeks before the EWC. However, the sooner you can tell us that you’re taking leave the better, so we can start planning for your absence (we don’t need all the details right away).
What to tell us
After you get a MAT B1 form from your doctor (usually at an antenatal appointment after your 20-week scan) you can tell us the EWC, and the date you think that you want your maternity leave to start.
When your leave can start
Your leave can start from the 11th week before the EWC. For example, if you are due on 15th September 2022, you can start your leave from the week beginning 27th June 2022.
There are some circumstances when your maternity leave will start automatically:
- If you give birth before your maternity leave is supposed to start, you maternity leave will begin on the day after the birth.
- If you’re off work for pregnancy-related illness in the 4 weeks before your baby is due.
When your leave can end
Unless you tell us otherwise, we’ll assume that you’re taking the full 52 weeks of leave. If you already know how much leave you want to take before you start your leave (or just have a rough idea), you can let us know.
Confirming your leave
We’ll confirm in writing the dates that your leave will start and end once we have all the information we need from you. As mentioned above, you can still change these dates with appropriate notice.
Appointments
You can take paid time off to go to antenatal appointments.
Pay during maternity leave
For non-GPs
You’re entitled to get statutory maternity pay (SMP) during your maternity leave, if you meet the eligibility requirements below.
More information can be found on the Gov.uk website.
If you’re not eligible for SMP, you can get maternity allowance instead.
More information can be found on the Gov.uk website.
For GPs
Salaried GPs get the following maternity pay if you have been in more than 12 months’ continuous service with the NHS at the beginning of the 11th week before the EWC. If you have less than 12 months’ continuous service, you get the same pay as non-GPs, assuming you meet the eligibility requirements in the section above.
Coming back to work
We’ll try to make coming back to work as easy as possible after your maternity leave!
If you’re thinking about changing your hours when you come back, you can find out more about it on our Flexible Working page. You might also want to consider taking Shared parental leave if that’s better for you and your partner.
KIT days
During your leave you can take 10 keeping in touch (KIT) days. These are days when you can come back to work without ending your leave (but they don’t extend your period of leave). This can be any work under your job description, and includes any training or activity that keeps you in touch with the workplace. KIT days have no impact on your entitlement to statutory pay.
Annual leave entitlement
Your annual leave entitlement will continue to accrue throughout your leave, i.e. though you’re not working during your leave, you are still entitled to take all of your annual leave from this period of time. For example, if you took the full 52 weeks of maternity leave, you would accrue 28 days of annual leave.
Annual leave accrued during your leave needs to be taken within the holiday year (1st Jan to 31st Dec) once you come back to work. Often people chose to take their annual leave in one go at the end of their leave (effectively extending their leave period), before they return to work.