
Maternity
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Guide to teachers’ maternity rights explaining, as simply as possible, the various maternity and parental rights available to all teachers (e.g. shared parental leave), whether full or part time.
Your entitlements to maternity leave and pay depend largely on:
To qualify for occupational maternity pay, you must be covered by the Burgundy Book and employed for at least one year and 11 weeks with one or more local authorities by the expected week of childbirth.
Occupational maternity pay is also paid for a continuous period of up to 39 weeks.
For the first four weeks, you will be paid at 100 per cent of salary if eligible. Weeks 5 - 6 are paid at 90 per cent of salary if eligible, and weeks 7 - 18 at 50 per cent of salary plus the standard Statutory Maternity Pay rate of £151.97 per week. The remaining 21 weeks are paid at the standard Statutory Maternity Pay rate.
Teachers employed in the local authority sector, other than supply teachers, will generally have the Burgundy Book scheme included in their contract of employment.
Teachers who work outside the local authority sector will not necessarily have the Burgundy Book scheme included in their contracts of employment. Refer to the appropriate section below for relevant information.
CTCs and academies can establish their own maternity provisions, provided that they observe the basic statutory rights set out in Section 4.
The proprietors of independent schools are free to establish their own maternity provisions, subject only to the basic statutory maternity rights as outlined in Section 4. Some independent schools do follow the provisions of the Burgundy Book scheme but some count only continuous employment at that particular school for the purposes of calculating entitlement to maternity leave and pay. If you work in an independent school, your contract of employment will set out the maternity rights to which you are entitled.
The proprietors of supply agencies are free to establish their own maternity provisions, subject only to the basic statutory maternity rights as outlined in Section 4. If you work for a supply agency, your contract with the agency should set out the maternity rights to which you are entitled.
To qualify for statutory maternity pay you must have worked continuously for the same employer for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the week the baby is due. For the definition of 'continuous employment' please refer to the glossary. To find the 15th week, look on a calendar for the Sunday before your baby is due, or the day it is due if that is a Sunday, and count back 15 Sundays from there. You must have worked at least 26 weeks with your employer by the end of that week in order to qualify for statutory maternity pay. You must still be employed in that job in the 15th week before the baby is due and you must earn at least £120.00 [2021-2022] per week on average during the 8 weeks before the 15th week. You do not lose your entitlement to SMP if you leave employment after the 15th week or do not intend to return to work.
Rate of Statutory Maternity Pay
For the first six weeks you get 90 per cent of your average pay. After that you get the basic rate of statutory maternity pay, which, at the date of publication, is £151.97 per week, for up to 33 weeks. Statutory maternity pay is only payable when you are away from work so if you work at any time during your maternity leave you will not get statutory maternity pay for that week. The exception to this is the introduction of Keeping In Touch (KIT) days, which allow women to work for up to 10 days without bringing their maternity leave to an end or losing SMP or MA.
Statutory maternity pay is paid for up to 39 weeks. It is for you to decide how many weeks you wish to claim. The earliest week that you can get statutory maternity pay is the 11th week before the birth. If, however, your baby is stillborn from week 16 before the expected date of childbirth, you can now get statutory maternity pay. You are entitled to 39 weeks’ maternity pay whenever you decide to leave work. If you have a pregnancy related illness in the 4 weeks before the baby is due and this triggers your maternity leave, you will not be able to claim statutory sick pay.
If, however, your illness is not pregnancy related, you can claim statutory sick pay until your maternity leave and pay start.
To claim statutory maternity pay you may apply at the same time that you give notice to your employer of your pregnancy and your intention to take maternity leave. This would be by the end of the 15th week before the expected week of the birth. If you have not already requested Statutory Maternity Pay, you may write to your employer at least 28 days before you stop work, asking that you be paid statutory maternity pay. If you have not already done so, you must send them a copy of your Maternity
Certificate, Form MAT B1, which your GP or midwife will have given you. Under the Burgundy Book scheme, the first 18 weeks’ pay includes Statutory Maternity Pay and occupational maternity pay, the Statutory Maternity Pay being claimed on your behalf by your employer. If you were entitled to occupational maternity pay it would not be necessary for you to make any claim apart from informing your employer that you wished to receive statutory maternity pay when giving notification of absence.
The statutory provisions provide that notification of pregnancy should be given to ‘the employer’ according to arrangements determined by the employer. You should check, in advance, the arrangements for notification applying in your school or college. The NEU believes, however, that the notification requirement is satisfied if the notification is given by the due date
to your head teacher or principal.
You are required to inform your employer no later than the end of the 15th week before your expected week of childbirth or, exceptionally, as soon as you reasonably can:
The notification needs to be in writing if requested by your employer. It is preferable that you make such a written notification for the purpose of keeping a record. It is also advisable to inform your employer of your pregnancy as soon as you feel comfortable doing so. Once you have done so, your period of protection from detriment starts.
Your midwife or GP will give you a MAT B1 Form when you are about six months’ pregnant. You should be prepared to produce this to confirm your pregnancy. You can vary your leave start date by giving your employer 28 days' notice.
You can start your maternity leave at any time from 11 weeks before the week your baby is due. It is up to you to decide and you can work up until the week of childbirth.
Your Statutory Maternity Pay will start on the same day as your maternity leave, i.e., the date notified to the employer. The only exception is if you have a pregnancy-related illness during the last four weeks of your pregnancy. In this case, your maternity leave will be automatically triggered.
Where the baby is born before the maternity leave is due to commence, the day following the date of the birth will be regarded as the first day of maternity leave and pay.It is a legal requirement that you do not work for two weeks following the date of
childbirth. During the ordinary maternity leave period, all your contractual rights, except your normal pay, will continue as if you were not absent from work.
Your employer must, within 28 days of receiving notice of your intention to take maternity leave, give you written notice of the date that your maternity leave entitlement will end, i.e., the end of 52 weeks.
Here are some important milestones in relation to your maternity rights.
Here are some important things to remember regarding your maternity rights after your baby is born.