Atypical & Flexible Working
This note is intended to give an overview of the key ‘family friendly’ rights available to employees. There are more detailed factsheets and documents available for each of the sections below.
Maternity Leave and Pay
All pregnant employees are entitled to up to 52 weeks' maternity leave regardless of their length of service. This is made up of 26 weeks ordinary maternity leave (of which 2 weeks are compulsory) and 26 weeks additional maternity leave.
Eligible employees will also be entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) for up to 39 weeks. SMP is payable at two rates. An ‘earnings-related’ rate (90% of average earnings) is payable for the first six weeks and then the ‘prescribed rate’ set by Government is payable for the remaining 33 weeks (unless the earnings-related rate is lower in which case that will continue to apply).