1. Ante-natal care: all pregnant employees are entitled to reasonable time off work, with pay, for antenatal care with a registered health professional. An employer is entitled to ask for evidence of appointments. An employee who is unreasonably refused time off may complain to an employment tribunal.

2. Protection from dismissal: an employee is entitled not to be dismissed because of pregnancy or any reason connected with it. She is treated as having been unfairly dismissed if the principal reason for her dismissal is that she is pregnant, or that she has given birth, or that she has taken maternity leave. It will similarly be unfair if she is made redundant for any of these reasons.

3. Pay: a pregnant employee who meets certain qualifying conditions based on her length of service and average earnings is entitled to receive statutory maternity pay from her employer for up to 39 weeks. To qualify for statutory maternity pay a pregnant employee must have been working for the same employer continuously for at least 26 weeks ending in the 15th week before the week the baby is due and must have been paying National Insurance on earnings of an average of £120 a week (correct as of 6 April 2021), and must give notice of the date she intends to start her maternity leave. If she can satisfy these conditions, she will receive 90% of her average weekly earnings or salary for six weeks followed by a fixed statutory rate for the remaining 33 weeks (set at £151.97 in 2021). Special rules apply if the baby is born early. Payment cannot begin until 11 weeks before the baby is due. Employers can recover the majority of such payments by setting the amount against their National Insurance payments. They can require the employee to provide them with evidence of the baby’s birth. An employee who does not qualify for statutory maternity pay but who earns at least £30 per week on average may be entitled to claim maternity allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions.

4. Leave: an employee who continues to be employed by her employer until the beginning of the 11th week before the expected week of confinement is entitled to maternity leave. All pregnant employees are entitled to at least 52 weeks’ maternity leave, made up of 26 weeks’ ordinary maternity leave and 26 weeks’ additional maternity leave. An employee must inform her employer, at least 15 weeks before her expected week of childbirth, that she intends to be absent because of maternity leave. This notice must also state the expected week of confinement, for which she may be required by her employer to produce evidence. The maternity leave period begins either on the date that the employee has previously notified to her employer or on the first day on which she is absent from work wholly or partly because of pregnancy or childbirth, if this is within four weeks of the expected date of confinement. If it is not possible for the employee to provide notice of her intention to take up leave, then she must do so as soon as possible thereafter. The employer can request that this is certified by a registered healthcare professional.

5. Return to work: an employee entitled to maternity leave is also entitled to return to work with her employer. An employee who returns after ordinary maternity leave is entitled to return to the same job on the same terms and conditions of employment as if she had not been absent, unless her job has become redundant, in which case she is entitled to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy. Any alternative cannot be less favourable than her position would have been before taking leave. An employee who returns to work after additional maternity leave is entitled to return to the same job on the same terms and conditions of employment as if she had not been absent, unless that is not reasonably practicable; in the latter case, she must be offered a similar job on terms and conditions no less favourable than her original job. If a woman wishes to return to work before the end of her 52 weeks’ leave she may do so providing she informs her employer eight weeks in advance of her proposed return. She need not give notice if she is returning at the end of the 52 weeks. If the employer refuses to allow her to return, the employee is treated as having been dismissed. The dismissal will be treated as unfair unless the employer shows that her job is redundant and that she was offered a suitable alternative, which she refused, or that it was not reasonably practicable to allow her to return and that she was offered suitable alternative employment, which she unreasonably refused.

6. Compulsory maternity leave: this is the period when the employee is not allowed to work. This is two weeks from the date of the birth, or four weeks if employed in a factory, or longer if there are special rules.

7. Contractual terms: throughout the maternity leave period the employee is entitled to continue to benefit from all contractual terms of her employment with the exception of remuneration. These entitlements may include such things as pension contributions from her employer, company car and personal petrol allowance, and private health insurance.

8. Health and safety: employers are required to protect the health and safety at work of new and expectant mothers (Suspension from Work (on Maternity Grounds) Order 1994; Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999). A new mother is one who has given birth within the past six months or who is breastfeeding. If, despite taking all reasonably practicable measures, there is still a risk that could jeopardize the health or safety of a new or expectant mother or her baby, employers must remove any employee who is a new or expectant mother from the risk. The employer must first consider modifying the employee’s working conditions and/or hours of work. If this is not practical or if it would not avoid the risk, the employer must offer suitable alternative work if any is available. If that is not possible the employee must be suspended from work for as long as necessary to protect her safety or health or that of her child. An employee on maternity suspension is entitled to be paid at her full normal rate for as long as the suspension continues.

9. Working during leave and keeping in touch: employees may do up to ten days’ work during maternity leave. These “keeping in touch days” are paid, but the employee must agree to do the work and the employer may not demand it. In addition, it is good practice for employers to maintain reasonable contact with the employee, which may include giving the employee information that she would have received if she had been at work, such as openings or promotion opportunities.