What will I actually get paid on maternity leave?
"Six weeks at 90%, then statutory pay." That describes the policy. It doesn't answer the question you actually have: what will land in my bank account each month?
To get there, pull apart three things: how long you can take off, what your employer will pay, and what gets taken off before it reaches you. They're linked, but they're not the same.
Leave and pay run on different clocks
If you qualify, you can take up to 52 weeks of statutory maternity leave. Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) normally covers up to 39 weeks. So a full year off can mean 13 weeks with no statutory pay, unless your employer adds something. GOV.UK: Statutory Maternity Pay and Leave, Leave, GOV.UK: Statutory Maternity Pay and Leave, Pay. And qualifying for leave is not the same as qualifying for pay. GOV.UK: Statutory Maternity Pay and Leave, Eligibility.
That gap matters more to your budget than the phrase "a year's maternity leave".
What SMP pays
At the 2026/27 rates, SMP is:
Part of your maternity-pay period | Statutory gross pay |
|---|---|
First 6 weeks | 90% of your average weekly earnings |
Next 33 weeks | £194.32 a week, or 90% of average weekly earnings if that's lower |
After week 39 | No SMP |
These are before deductions, not take-home. SMP goes through payroll, and tax and National Insurance come off where they apply. GOV.UK: Statutory Maternity Pay and Leave, Pay, HMRC: Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027.
Your employer checks whether you qualify for SMP. Usually you need to have worked for them without a break for at least 26 weeks, continuing into the 15th week before the week your baby is due, earn at least £129 a week on average, and give the right notice and proof that you're pregnant. If you don't qualify, your employer must give you form SMP1 explaining why. GOV.UK: Statutory Maternity Pay and Leave, Eligibility. There may still be help. Maternity Allowance can cover some people SMP doesn't, including some who are self-employed or recently changed jobs. GOV.UK: Statutory Maternity Pay and Leave, Eligibility, GOV.UK: Maternity Allowance, What you’ll get.
Your employer may pay more
Enhanced maternity pay is whatever extra your employer offers on top. It might be full pay for a while, then half pay, then SMP. Read your own contract or maternity policy. What a colleague got may not apply to you. Acas: Statutory maternity leave and pay, Eligibility for pay.
The one question that unlocks most of it: "Is that the total, or is SMP paid on top?"
Say a policy offers "12 weeks' full pay including SMP". If your normal gross pay is £600 a week, you get £600 that week, not £600 plus SMP. A policy that says "half pay plus SMP" works differently. And ask whether the total is capped at your normal salary. These are examples of wording to check, not packages every employer offers.
Also check for a return-to-work clause. Some contracts say you must repay the enhanced part if you don't come back, or leave soon after. You never have to repay SMP just because you decide not to return. Acas: Statutory maternity leave and pay, Eligibility for pay.
"Average earnings" isn't your basic salary
SMP uses what you earned in a set period, usually about eight weeks, not the salary on your contract. Bonuses, overtime and payroll dates all feed in. Ask payroll which payslips they used. HMRC: Work out your employee’s payments for Statutory Maternity Pay.
If you're on salary sacrifice, that can change the earnings used too. SMP itself can't be sacrificed. And if you get a pay rise, your SMP may need recalculating. Tell payroll about changes rather than assuming the first estimate is final. HMRC: Statutory Maternity Pay, employee circumstances that affect payment.
Why the monthly figure looks odd
Maternity policies are written in weeks. Bills come in months. Your first month of leave might hold some normal salary and some maternity pay. A later month might straddle enhanced pay and statutory pay. Payroll timing can shift money between payslips. HMRC's guidance lets weekly SMP be split into daily amounts for part-weeks. HMRC: Work out your employee’s payments for Statutory Maternity Pay.
Then there are the deductions. Pension contributions and student loan repayments need checking, not copying from an old payslip. During paid leave, your own pension contribution is based on your actual pay, and Statutory Maternity Pay counts as earnings for workplace pension contributions. GOV.UK: Workplace pensions, Changing jobs and taking leave, GOV.UK: Workplace pensions, What you, your employer and the government pay. Student loan deductions depend on what you earn in each pay period, so they can shrink or stop when your pay drops. GOV.UK: Repaying your student loan, How much you repay.
Don't estimate maternity take-home by applying your usual net-pay percentage to each month. The income pattern has changed. The deductions have probably changed with it.
Ask payroll for a plan, not a percentage
Ask for a month-by-month estimate showing gross pay, deductions and expected net pay. Next to it, note the dates when enhanced pay changes, when SMP ends, and when you expect to go back. Keep the policy wording alongside so you can check one against the other.
You don't need to become a payroll expert. You need a usable answer with the assumptions written down. Once you have that, planning the rest of leave gets a lot less abstract.