Kemi Badenoch questions maternity pay – Here’s what new mothers are actually entitled to

K emi Badenoch, a contender for leadership of the Conservative party, has sparked a debate on maternity pay, stating that the allowance in the UK is “excessive”.

Badenoch has since backtracked: “Of course I believe in maternity pay!” she posted on X. But former MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has also added to the conversation, suggesting that women should not be able to accrue paid holiday while on maternity leave.

My research focuses on the intersection of paid work and caring responsibilities. It’s worth examining what leave and pay parents in the UK are entitled to.

New mums can access 52 weeks of maternity leave from their work. But leave is different to pay, and a significant amount of this time off goes unpaid. Many new mothers will receive only six weeks of pay at a level near that of their regular salary, before their allowance falls away sharply.

Maternity pay

Mothers who are working for their employer 15 weeks before their baby is due, and who worked for 26 weeks before this, will be eligible for statutory maternity pay. Statutory maternity pay is six weeks at 90% of the mother’s income.

This is followed by 33 weeks of leave paid at the flat statutory rate: currently £184.03 a week, or 90% of your income if this is less. (£184.03 per week would be the equivalent of take-home annual pay of around £9,500, and is less than minimum wage). The last 13 weeks of maternity leave are unpaid.

Around two-thirds of employers choose to offer enhanced levels of pay. This can take many different forms, but mothers will probably need to meet extra eligibility requirements. They will also often need to return to work at the organisation for a certain period of time, although this can often be minimised in practice by relying on rolled-over annual leave.

Maternity (as well as adoption and shared parental) leave can be supplemented by “keep in touch days”: going back to work for a day here and there throughout the period of maternity leave. There is no right to full pay for these days, but they might be worth taking with more generous employers.

Employers are able to reclaim 92% of the costs of parental leave, while small employers can reclaim 103%.

Paternity leave

Dads or mother’s partners are also entitled to two weeks of paternity leave, if they meet the same eligibility requirements for statutory maternity pay. This is paid at the same flat, statutory rate of pay. Enhanced pay might be available, but is less common than maternity pay.

As most women recover from childbirth and pregnancy in six to eight weeks, some partners may want to supplement this leave to care for the new mother. One option for this is parental leave (if eligible and approved) but this is often unpaid. More feasible solutions might be using annual leave or shared parental leave.

Shared parental leave

Eligible mums can transfer 50 weeks of their maternity leave to the dad or their partner (if they are eligible for paternity leave and stay with the same employer until they start SPL). 37 weeks of leave is available at the statutory rate of pay, and the final 13 weeks are unpaid.

This leave can be transferred back to the mum, as it can be taken in up to three blocks per parent. However, the notice requirements are onerous; each employer must be given notice and the permission of each parent. This means it is probably best to sort provisional SPL dates before the baby is born. If changes need to be made, this can be done with eight weeks’ notice.

Adoption leave

In terms of pay and eligibility requirements, this works in the same way as maternity leave. Parents must give notice within seven days of hearing that they have been matched with a child by an approved adoption agency. Those who welcome a child through surrogacy and are eligible for a Parental Order can also access adoption leave.

The only difference is that if it is a couple that are adopting, they can decide who takes adoption leave and who takes paternity leave.

Neo-natal leave

This new entitlement will be available to parents of babies born after April 2025. Parents of children who spend seven or more continuous days receiving medical or palliative care within the first 28 days of their life will be entitled to up to 12 weeks of leave, which will be added to the end of maternity or paternity leave. This will be paid at the same flat rate of statutory pay.

Is this excessive?

Badenoch’s comments suggest that UK maternity pay is too generous. But in contrast to other European and OECD countries, the UK has some of the least generous leave and pay.

In Sweden, for example, parents can access 240 days of leave, and 195 of these days are paid at 77.6% of earnings up to a ceiling of SEK573,000, which is over £42,000 a year. The remaining 45 days are paid at the flat rate of SEK180 (£13.30) a day.

This is far more generous in terms of both time and pay than the UK equivalent, where the low flat rate is less than minimum wage. This generosity, alongside the use of non-transferable leave (days of leave which cannot be transferred from one parent to the other) creates conditions for healthier families with strong paternal involvement, and might help to explain why Sweden has much better results in terms of gender equality than the UK.

GOING FURTHER

• Maternity pay has gone too far, suggests Kemi Badenoch | BBC NEWS

• Kemi Badenoch faces backlash as Tory rivals seize on maternity pay comments | THE GUARDIAN

• Maternity pay and leave | GOV.UK

• Get financial help with statutory pay | GOV.UK

• Are the world’s richest countries family-friendly? | UNICEF

Sources:

▪ This piece was originally published in The Conversation and re-published in PUBLIC SQUARE UK on 1 October 2024. | The author writes in a personal capacity.

▪ Cover: Flickr/Number 10. (Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.)