The first six weeks are not capped
Almost every summary of maternity pay gives you one number, £194.32 a week, and leaves it there. For anybody earning above about £216 a week that is wrong, and it is wrong by thousands.
Statutory maternity pay has two rates:
- Weeks 1 to 6: 90% of your average weekly earnings, with no upper limit at all
- Weeks 7 to 39: whichever is lower of £194.32 or 90% of your earnings
Somebody on £800 a week gets £720 a week for the first six weeks, which is £4,320, before it falls to £194.32. Nearly half the total sits in those six weeks. A calculation that applies the standard rate across all 39 weeks misses it entirely.
Below about £216 a week the two rates are the same, because 90% of your earnings never reaches the standard rate. The tool says which side of that line you are on.
Everything hangs off the qualifying week
The qualifying week is the fifteenth week before the week your baby is due, and statutory weeks here run Sunday to Saturday. Three separate things are measured to it:
- Your 26 weeks of continuous employment have to be complete by the end of it
- Your average weekly earnings are taken over the eight weeks ending with it
- Your employer has to be told by then, under regulation 4(1)
Fifteen weeks before the due week is roughly six months before the birth. That is far earlier than people expect, and it has a hard consequence: somebody who takes a job while already pregnant has usually already missed it, and staying for another year does not fix it.
That is not the end of it though. Maternity Allowance is claimed from Jobcentre Plus rather than from an employer, and its test is 26 weeks of employment or self employment in the 66 weeks before the due date, which is a far easier bar. And the leave is unaffected either way: 52 weeks of maternity leave has never needed a single day of service.
A pay rise inside the earnings window counts
The eight weeks used to work out average weekly earnings end with the qualifying week. A pay rise landing inside that window raises the whole 39 weeks, and one landing just after it does not. It is worth knowing the dates before agreeing when a rise takes effect.
Thirteen weeks of the leave are unpaid
Leave is 52 weeks. Pay is 39 weeks. The arithmetic is not complicated and it still catches almost everybody out.
The last thirteen weeks of a full year off carry no statutory pay at all unless the employer runs a scheme of its own. A plan built on "a year off" breaks in month ten, and the point to notice is that it breaks a long way from any decision anybody remembers making.
So the pay falls off a cliff twice: once at week seven, when it drops to the standard rate, and again at week forty, when it stops. The planner marks both dates.
Your leave can start before you meant it to
There are two automatic triggers, and neither can be declined.
The birth. If the baby arrives before your chosen start date, leave begins the day after, whatever the plan said.
A pregnancy related absence in the four weeks before the due week. Any sickness absence in that window that is connected to the pregnancy starts the maternity leave itself. An absence unrelated to the pregnancy does not.
The second one is the expensive one. It moves every date after it, including the date the pay stops, so weeks that were meant to be spent with the baby get spent waiting for them instead. The tool shows when that window opens.
Coming back early needs eight weeks of notice
Returning on the day your 52 weeks ends needs no notice at all. Coming back earlier needs eight weeks.
People miss this constantly, because returning sooner feels like a favour to the employer rather than something requiring notice. Up to ten keeping in touch days can be worked during the leave without ending it or losing that week's pay, and they are optional on both sides: an employer cannot require them and an employee cannot demand them.
The statutory floor, and most schemes pay above it
This works the statutory minimum from your dates. A contractual maternity scheme can pay considerably more and many do, so check the contract and the handbook. It does not cover shared parental leave, adoption, the position on a stillbirth or a premature birth, or Maternity Allowance itself, each of which has its own rules and its own dates. The continuous service checker shows the qualifying dates for everything else that turns on length of service.
Common questions
How much is statutory maternity pay?
Six weeks at 90% of your average weekly earnings with NO cap, then 33 weeks at whichever is lower of £194.32 or 90% of your earnings. Thirty nine weeks paid in total, for the 2026/27 tax year. The rate changes every April.
Are the first six weeks really uncapped?
Yes. Somebody on £800 a week gets £720 a week for six weeks, which is £4,320, before it drops to £194.32, which is the part most calculations get wrong. Applying the standard rate to all 39 weeks understates the total badly for anybody earning above about £216 a week.
What is the qualifying week?
The fifteenth week before the week your baby is due, running Sunday to Saturday. Three things are measured to it: your 26 weeks of continuous employment have to be complete by the end of it, your average earnings are taken over the eight weeks ending with it, and your employer has to be told by then.
I started this job while pregnant. Do I get maternity pay?
Usually not, because the 26 weeks has to be complete by the qualifying week, which is about six months before the birth. Staying longer afterwards does not fix it. Maternity Allowance is the route instead: it is claimed from Jobcentre Plus rather than your employer, and it tests 26 weeks of employment or self employment in the 66 weeks before your due date. Your maternity LEAVE is unaffected, because 52 weeks of leave has never needed any service at all.
How much of my maternity leave is unpaid?
Thirteen weeks. Leave runs for 52 weeks and pay runs for 39, so the last quarter of a full year off carries no statutory pay at all unless your employer has its own scheme. This is the thing most plans are built without.
When is the earliest I can start my leave?
The eleventh week before the expected week of childbirth. Worth thinking about, because starting that early spends eleven weeks of your paid period before the baby has even arrived.
Can my leave start before I meant it to?
Yes, twice over. It starts automatically the day after the birth if the baby comes early, and it starts automatically if you are off with a PREGNANCY RELATED illness at any point in the four weeks before your due week. That second one is not optional and it cannot be declined, so it can move every date on your plan. An illness unrelated to the pregnancy does not trigger it.
Is there still a lower earnings limit for maternity pay?
Yes. You need to average at least £129 a week. Statutory sick pay lost its lower earnings limit on 6 April 2026 under the Employment Rights Act 2025, but that change did not extend to maternity pay, so SMP still has one. Below it, Maternity Allowance has a much lower earnings test.
What notice do I have to give to come back?
None at all if you return on the day your 52 weeks ends. Eight weeks if you want to come back EARLIER, which is the one people miss because returning sooner feels like a favour to the employer rather than something needing notice.