What happens to pay during maternity leave?

During maternity leave (both ordinary and additional maternity leave), the employee’s contract of employment continues but she is not entitled to her ‘wages or salary’. If she meets the qualifying conditions she will be entitled to statutory maternity pay (SMP) instead.

Shift premia, overtime, call-out and attendance allowances all count as ‘wages or salary’ and can therefore be withheld during maternity leave. Car allowances and bonuses are more complicated and are dealt with separately below.

The rules about pay will stay the same under the new law.

You might choose to offer enhanced maternity pay (over and above SMP), for example, to attract and retain women in a competitive market. However, you are not legally obliged to offer any extra maternity pay and the fact that you offer a sick pay scheme that is more generous than the statutory sick pay scheme does not mean that you have to do the same with maternity pay.