At 52 weeks, the UK offers one of the longest statutory maternity leave allowances in Europe, but it’s one of the worst paid
In the UK, Statutory Maternity Pay is paid for up to 39 of those 52 weeks. For the first six weeks, you get 90% of your average weekly earnings (before tax) and then £187.18 or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for the next 33 weeks. The final 13 of those 52 weeks are unpaid.
Statutory Paternity Leave is up to two weeks and the rate of Statutory Paternity Pay is £187.18, or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is lower) a week. That £187.18 per week equates to less than half of the minimum wage for someone over the age of 21. Shared Parental Leave allows parents (who meet the eligibility requirements) to split 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay between them, with the Statutory Shared Parental Pay rate also standing at £187.18, or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is lower).
Compared to our European neighbours, that low rate is cast into even sharper relief. In Italy, mothers get five months leave at 80% pay; in Norway there’s 49 weeks of parental leave at full pay or 59 weeks at 80% pay, which can be shared; and Sweden allows 480 days of paid leave per child at 80% pay, with each parent entitled to 240 of those days. Scandinavian countries are particularly good at designating proper periods of time off for both parents in an effort to be gender equal.
The parental leave system in the UK is based around an outdated model that assumes the mother will take a step back from work while the fathers continue to earn, further contributing to the gender pay gap. When mothers take the lion’s share of parental leave, it has negative ramifications for their career progression and their pensions. With men tending to out-earn women – something that happens in 72.4% of heterosexual couples – the financial logic dictates that the higher earner has to remain working, which pushes women into the primary carer role. 39% of separated parents said that not sharing caring responsibilities contributed to the breakdown of their relationships in recent research commissioned by The Dad Shift and Movember.
Paid maternity and paternity leave comes with certain eligibility requirements, like length of employment and employment status – self-employed mothers may be eligible for Statutory Maternity Allowance rather than Statutory Maternity Pay but self-employed fathers aren’t entitled to paternity leave or pay. Casual workers are also affected, with the Women’s Budget Group estimating that 28% of working men and women don’t have access to paid maternity or paternity leave.
Reforms to parental leave detailed in the Employment Rights Act, including entitlements to paternity leave and parental leave from day one of employment, rather than having to have worked for an employer for 26 weeks (to be eligible for paternity leave) or a year (to access unpaid parental leave), come into force from 1st April. As Simon Kelleher, Head of Policy and Influencing at Working Families, said: “Day-one rights for paternity and unpaid parental leave are a positive step forward. Removing the 26-week qualifying period means parents can change jobs without losing essential leave entitlements, something we know has held many people back and can trap families in roles that no longer work for them.”
Following campaigning by Aaron Horsey, who discovered he had no right to take leave to look after his newborn son after his wife Bernadette died while giving birth, Bereaved Partner’s Paternity Leave is also being introduced, providing up to 52 weeks of leave for fathers and partners who lose their partner before their child’s first birthday.
These changes to parental leave are a step in the right direction but more needs to be done in regards to affordable childcare and flexible working to truly address gender inequality.
The average cost in the UK of a full time nursery placement (50 hours for a child under two) is £263 a week, and £321 a week in inner London. The Working Families Index Report 2025 found that 6 in 10 families say that accessing the childcare they need puts a strain on their finances. Flexible working arrangements that fit around childcare are essential for many families, yet the burden falls more heavily on women – as per the Working Families Index Report, 9 out of 10 parents working reduced hours were women and 3 in 10 mothers work part time compared to 1 in 20 fathers. Almost three-quarters of those surveyed who were not currently working flexibly would like to.
Under the Employment Rights Act, employees have the day one right to request flexible working and employers will have to justify any refusals of those requests but until flexible working is normalised, the gender pay gap will never be closed.
We’re shining a light on the issues women continue to face as part of our Year of the Woman campaign. The World Economic Forum has said it could take 123 years to reach global gender parity, meaning several generations may pass without seeing true equality in their lifetimes. We firmly believe that, particularly in the current climate, a level playing field will only be achieved if these issues continue to be highlighted and challenged. Find more Year of the Woman content here.
