Maternity Leave Changes – A Basic Summary
dti Leaflet
The Government is committed to helping working
parents. Subject to Parliamentary approval, new maternity leave rights will
benefit women whose expected week of childbirth (EWC) begins on or after
At the same time, the Government will be introducing new rights to paid
adoption and paternity leave, and the right for parents of young children to
apply to work flexibly. These new rights. together with existing rights to parental leave and time off
for dependants. will provide parents with more
opportunities than ever before to balance work and family life. whilst being compatible with, and beneficial to, business
efficiency.
This leaflet provides only basic information on the planned key changes to
maternity leave - many maternity-related rights and obligations will remain
unchanged, including the right to time off for
antenatal care, the two week period of compulsory maternity leave after the
birth, the maternity health and safety suspension provisions, and the right to
protection from detrimental treatment on grounds of maternity. This leaflet
does not attempt to describe the detail of the changes and should not be taken
as an authoritative statement of the law.
The latest
version of this leaflet is available on the Internet via
www.dti.gov.uk/er/matleafr.htm.
Detailed guidance on the new rights will be
published nearer to the time when they are to take effect.
For
further information on employment relations issues, including the latest
updates on the changes to maternity rights and full guidance on existing
maternity rights see www.dti.gov.uk/er
August 2002
Women whose expected week of
childbirth (EWC) begins on or after
Women whose EWC is on or after 6
April 2003 will benefit from the new leave rights even if their babies are born
earlier than expected.
The changes to maternity leave
provisions will not apply to women whose EWC is before
The length of ordinary maternity
leave will be increased and pregnant employees will be entitled to 26 weeks
ordinary maternity leave. regardless of how long they
have worked for their employer.
Ordinary
maternity leave is normally paid leave.
Women who have completed 26 weeks
continuous service with their employer by the 15th week before their EWC will
be able to take additional maternity leave. Additional maternity leave will
start immediately after ordinary maternity leave and continue for a further 26
weeks.
Additional maternity leave is
usually unpaid although a woman may have contractual rights to pay during her
period of additional maternity leave.
A pregnant employee will be
required to notify her employer of her intention to take maternity leave by the
15th week before her EWC, unless this is not reasonably practicable. She will
need to tell her employer:
• that she is pregnant
• the week her baby is expected to be born
• when she wants her maternity leave to start.
A woman will be able to change her
mind about when she wants to start her leave providing she tells her employer
at least 28 days in advance (unless this is not reasonably practicable).
There will be a new requirement on
employers to respond to a woman's notification of her leave plans within 28 days.
An employer will need to write to his employee, setting out the date on which
he expects her to return to work if she takes her full entitlement to maternity
leave. A model letter for employers to use (if they wish to do so) will be
available as part of future detailed guidance.
There will be no change to how early a woman is able to start- her maternity leave - the earliest date will continue to be the beginning of the 11th week before her baby is due.
Thcre will no longer be provision for
an employer to write to a woman before the end of her ordinary maternity leave
period to ask the date on which her child was born and whether she intends to
return after her additional maternitv leave period.
This means that a woman who intends to return to work at the end of her full maternity
leave entitlement will not be required to give any further notification to her
employer.
An employee who wants to return to
work before the end of her maternity leave will need to give her employer 28
days notice of the date she wants to return to work.
A woman's maternity leave will start automatically if she is absent
from work for a pregnancy related illness during the four weeks before the
start of her EWC, regardless of when she has said she actually wants her
maternity leave to start.
The Department for Work and
Pensions will be making changes to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) and Maternity
Allowance (MA). The most important of these increase the length of time covered
by SMP or MA and increase the amount paid.
Women who are entitled to SMP or
MA and whose EWC begins on or after
Women who are entitled to SMP or
MA and whose EWC begins on or after
From 6 April 2003, the standard
rates of SMP and MA will be increasing from the current £75 a week to _£100 a
week (or 90% of the woman's average weekly earnings if this is less than £100 a
week).There will be no change to the current earnings-related rate of SMP (90%
of average weekly earnings) which applies for the first 6 weeks of the pay
period.
The new standard
rates apply from
When the changes are fully in place, women will either
get:
• SMP from their employer worth 90% of their earnings
for 6 weeks, followed by 20 weeks at £100 (or 90% of earnings for the full 26
weeks if this is less than £100 a week).
Or
• MA from their local Jobcentre Plus/Social Security
office worth £100 a week for 26 weeks (or 90%
of their earnings for 26 weeks if this is less than £100 a week).
More information on the details of the changes to SMP
and MA is available from
www.dwp.gov.uk/lifeevent/famchild/fc_expecting_a_baby.htm
Full details
of the existing SMP and MA schemes can be found in the leaflet NI17A (April
2001 version) which is available from your local Social Security office or
Jobcentre Plus office. Details are also available on the Department for Work
and Pensions from the
above website:
Further information about the SMP scheme for employers is additionally
available from your local Inland Revenue office.
.Employers' recovery of payments
Existing arrangements for employers to recover
Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) will continue- employers are able to claim back
92% of the payments they make, with those eligible for small employers' relief
able to claim back 100% plus an additional amount in compensation for the
employer's portion of National Insurance contributions paid on SMP.
In addition, under the new arrangements, employers who need to will be able to
receive funding in advance for payments of SMP from the Inland Revenue.
Other Family Friendly Rights
New right to apply to work
flexibly
A new right
for parents of young, or disabled, children to request flexible working is
being introduced. Subject to Parliamentary approval, fry 6 April 2003 eligible
employees who are parents of children aged under six, or of disabled children
aged under 18, will have the right to apply to work flexibly. Their employers
will have a duty to consider such requests seriously.
A leaflet giving basic information
on Flexible working - the right to apply (PL516) is available via
www..dti.gov.uk/er/individual/flexible-pl516.htm or from the DTI Publications Orderline
(contact details are included in the section on Further Information).
New right to paid
paternity leave
A new right
to paternity leave and pay is being introduced. Eligible employees will be able
to take up to two weeks' paid leave to care for their new baby and support the
mother. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the new right will be available to
employees whose children are expected to be born, or are born, on or after 6
April 2003.
A leaflet giving basic information
on Paternity - leave and pay (PL514) is available via
www.dti/gov.uk/er/individual/paternity-pl514.htm
or from the DTI Publications Orderline (contact
details are included in the section on Further Information).
A new right to adoption leave and
pay is being introduced. The new right will be available to individuals who
adopt, or one partner of a couple where the couple adopt jointly: A new right
to paternity leave and pay for the other member of the couple, or an adopter's
partner, is also being introduced. Subject to Parliamentary approval, employees
whose children are placed with them on or after 6 April ?1103 w-ill
benefit from the new adoption and paternity leave and pay rights.
A leaflet giving basic information
on Adoptive . parents - rights to leave and pay (PL515) is available via www.dti.gov.uk/er/individual/adopt-pl515.htm
or from the DTI Publications Orderline (contact
details are included in the section on Further Information).
Rights to parental leave and time off for dependants
Employees - both mothers and
fathers - who have completed one year's service with their employers, are
already entitled to 13 weeks' (unpaid) parental leave to care for their child.
Parental leave can usually be taken up to 5 years from the date of birth or in
cases of adoption five years from the date of placement (or the child's 18th
birthday, if that is sooner).
Parents of disabled children are entitled to 18 weeks' parental leave (previously 13 weeks) up to the child's 18th birthday, providing they have the qualifying length of service.
All employees are also entitled to take a reasonable
amount of (unpaid) time off work to deal with an emergency or unexpected
situation involving a dependant.
Full guidance booklets
about the right to Parental leave (PL509) and
Time off for dependants (URN 99/1186) are available via www.dti.gov.uk/er/regs.htm or from the DTI
Publications Orderline (contact details are included
in the section on Further Information).
Further Information
• Full guidance on existing
maternity rights is available in the booklet Maternity Riqhts -
a guide for employers and employees (PL958) which is avilable via www.dti.gov.uk/er/individual/maternity.pdf or from the DTI Publications Orderline
(contact details are given below).
• The detail of the new
arrangements will be available once they have received Parliamentary approval -
it is anticipated that this will be around the end of 2002.
* Check the DTI website
www.dti.gov.uk/er/review.htm and its interactive
guidance site
(www. tiger.gov.uk) for the latest updates.
• The guidance booklets mentioned
in this leaflet are available from the DTI Publications Qrderline
on 0870 1502 500 or can be ordered over the Internet from www.dti.gov.uklpublications.
*Employers can get more information on SMP from the
Inland Revenue (www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/employers). For
additional help , employers may phone the employers' helpline on 0845 714 3143.
*Small businesses can register at
www.businesslink.org to receive reminders and updates about
changes to employment law. Information is also available on a wide range of
help for small businesses.
*Information on all aspects of employment legislation
can usually be provided by accountants, citizens advice bureaux,
employer organisations, legal advisers, low pay
units, trade unions and a number of private sector and voluntary bodies.
• Further advice on employment law
matters, including the new rights, as well as good practice guidance is
available from offices of ACAS (www.acas.org.uk).
ACAS Public
Enquiry Point London 020 7396 5100