Maternity & Paternity
Maternity Leave
Mothers of babies born after the 1st April 2007 are entitled to 52 weeks maternity leave, made up of 26 weeks Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML) and 26 weeks Additional Maternity Leave (AML), which starts at the end of the OML with no gap in between.
Women on OML are entitled to:
- Their normal contractual benefits, e.g. accrual of contractual holiday entitlement;
- The right to return to the same job.
Women on AML are entitled to:
- Benefit from the employer’s implied obligation of trust and confidence and to the terms of their contract relating to notice, redundancy compensation and disciplinary or grievance procedures;
- To return to the same job, or if it that is not reasonably practical, to a similar job on terms and conditions that are no less favourable.
From 23 July 2008, subject to certain date-related criteria, employees on additional maternity leave (AML) are to benefit from the same non-pay contractual terms and conditions that applied when they were on ordinary maternity leave (OML).
Women expecting their baby to be born on or after 5 October 2008 will be entitled to the new terms and conditions.
The actual non-pay contractual terms and conditions these employees will continue to benefit from during AML will depend on their contract of employment. They could include one or more of the following:
• the build-up of contractual annual leave
• the provision of a company car or mobile phone
You will also have to take periods of AML into consideration when you calculate length of service for seniority, pension, annual leave entitlement and similar contractual rights.
In other words, employees who satisfy the above dates and who wish to exercise their right to AML will be entitled to benefit from all their non-pay contractual terms and conditions throughout their entire period of statutory leave.
The different right to return at the end of OML and AML remains.
These regulations also extend parallel changes - subject to certain date-related criteria - to employees taking additional adoption leave.
Paternity Leave and Pay
Fathers who have 26 weeks' service by the 15th week before the Expected Week of Childbirth (EWC), are entitled to two weeks' paternity leave at or around the date the child is born.
An employee may also take paternity leave if they are not the father but are the mother's partner and expect to have responsibility for the child's upbringing.
During paternity leave, most employees are entitled to Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP). Employees must earn enough to pay National Insurance to qualify for SPP.
Where a child is adopted, one member of a couple may receive Statutory Adoption Pay and the other Statutory Paternity Pay if they have 26 weeks' service by the time the adopter is told they have been matched with a child for adoption.
Employees must give you 28 days' notice of when they want their SPP to start. They should tell you that they will be taking paternity leave by the fifteenth week before the baby is due.
SPP is paid at a rate of £112.75 per week or 90 per cent of weekly earnings from 1 April 2007, whichever is lower.
Employers can recover 92 per cent of payments but if your total National Insurance payments are less than £45,000 per year you can recover 104.5 per cent to cover payments and other costs. You can recover SPP by deducting it from payments you make to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) for PAYE and National Insurance. You can also get funding in advance for payments of SPP from HMRC.
Further information about SPP for employees is available from the HMRC Employer Helpline on Tel 0845 7143 143.