If the problematic remarks about maternity pay that seem to have been made over the weekend by Tory leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch left you feeling perplexed and infuriated in equal measure, you certainly won’t be the only one.
In an interview with Times Radio, the Conservative MP for North West Essex appeared to suggest that maternity pay was “excessive”. She later took to social media to say that she had been speaking specifically about the burden of regulation on businesses.
Whatever she may or may not have meant, what many parents would agree is excessive is the financial strain that pregnancy and early parenthood place on many individuals and families – and that’s before you even begin to navigate finding affordable childcare and covering the other costs involved in raising a child.
Pressure on finances
Almost a quarter of women (73%) surveyed this year by maternity rights charity Maternity Action said that they worried a lot about money while they were pregnant or on maternity leave – this has risen from just under two thirds (63%) in 2022. Meanwhile, half (54%) of respondents this year said they sometimes struggled to afford the essentials during their pregnancy or maternity leave and almost seven in 10 (69%) had put their central heating on less in an attempt to save money. Equally worryingly, the number of women getting into debt at this time in their life has also jumped from half (51%) in 2022 to over three fifths (62%) in 2024.
Changes to employment law that took effect in April 2024 ushered in a small increase to statutory maternity pay and better protection from redundancy for those expecting a child and for new parents, and made improvements to the right to request flexible working.
Knowing what you’re entitled to ahead of time can help you plan ahead as best you can when there's a new addition to your family on the way, so we’ve rounded up the changes to maternity rights that you may have missed. This is what you need to know about your maternity rights.
Statutory maternity pay
You may be entitled to statutory maternity pay (SMP) if you are employed and paid through PAYE or if you are an agency worker. It’s paid for a maximum of 39 weeks.
For the first six weeks of your maternity leave, SMP is paid at 90% of your average pay. From April 2024, the flat rate of SMP (and statutory adoption pay and statutory shared parental pay) that you’ll be paid for the remaining 33 weeks increased from £172.48 to £184.03. If this flat rate is more than 90% of your average weekly earnings, you'll be paid the percentage figure instead.
Commenting on the change earlier this year, Maternity Action pointed out that, while welcome, the changes mean that a woman receiving statutory maternity pay would still receive less than half of the higher rate national minimum wage for a full-time employee overall.
Not sure whether you will qualify for maternity or paternity leave and pay? Use the calculator on the government website find out.
Right to request flexible working
Working mums are twice as likely as working dads (three times as likely for mums working full-time) to ask for flexible working when they return to work after taking parental leave, according to recent data from Pregnant the Screwed, the charity that works to end the motherhood penalty. It says that only three in five working mothers’ requests for flexible working are successful.
In April 2024, changes to the Flexible Working (Amendment) Regulations 2023 came into effect, which mean that you can now submit a request for flexible working from day one of employment. Previously, you had to wait until 26 weeks from the start of your employment before you could make a request. You can now make two flexible working requests a year, your employer must let you know if your request has been successful within two months (it used to be three months) and they have to consult with you before rejecting your request.
Just as there is no one-size-fits-all approach to parenting, there is no one-size-fits-all model of flexible working that will suit every parent. Flexible working includes job sharing, part-time working, working flexi-time (you have core working hours but choose a start and end time that suits you), working compressed hours (your normal number of hours spread over fewer days) and hybrid working (this combines working onsite and offsite for part of each week). This isn’t an exhaustive list!
You’re no longer required to detail in a request for flexible working how this might impact the business and what steps might need to be taken to mitigate this. However, as you can only make two flexible working requests per year, it makes sense to think ahead to how you might make the changes you’re proposing work.
“For example, if you are making a request to reduce to three days a week, you should consider how the work will be covered on the other days and think about any concerns your employer might have and how these can be managed,” says Katie Wood, Maternity Action Senior Legal Officer at Maternity Action.
“It is important to remember that given the law as it stands, an employer is able to refuse a request for a range of business-related reasons including: the burden of additional costs; a detrimental effect on the ability to meet customer demand; inability to reorganise the work among existing staff or recruit additional staff to do so; a detrimental effect on quality or on performance; not enough work during the periods the employee wants to work; or planned structural changes.” For more detail on your right to request flexible working, and the grounds on which your employer can refuse it, check the best practice guidance published by ACAS.
It's important to remember that while the changes slightly strengthen your position when asking for flexible working, they don’t address your entitlement to flexible working, although this could be on the cards in the near future. “The Government has been talking about making flexible working the default option in future and related proposals are likely to feature in the forthcoming employment rights bill which is due to be introduced in Parliament in October,” Katy adds. “However, it is unclear when and if any changes will come into law.”
Protection from redundancy
The changes that came into play in April 2024 have also increased your protection from redundancy if you’re pregnant, on maternity leave or taking shared parental leave. If your role is at risk of redundancy, you must be offered a suitable alternative job – assuming one exists – ahead of other colleagues. If you:
- are pregnant, you’re protected from redundancy from the date on which you tell your employer in writing about your pregnancy.
- are on maternity leave, you’re protected for 18 months from the day on which your child is born, or your expected due date.
- have a miscarriage before the end of the 24thweek of pregnancy, protection extends for two weeks after the end of your pregnancy. After the 24th week of pregnancy, you quality for maternity leave.
- take more than six consecutive weeks of shared parental leave, you’re protected from redundancy from the start of your leave through to 18 months after the date on which your child was born.
Ask for help
The charity for working parents and carers, Working Families provides information and advice on your rights including maternity pay, shared parental leave and flexible working. Call its helpline on: 0300 012 0312
Maternity Action aims to promote, protect and enhance the rights of all pregnant women, new mothers and their families to employment, social security and health care. It offers information on its website, and advice via email and various helplines. Check its website for details.
The charity Pregnant then Screwed works to achieve a more level playing field for working mums and to tackle discrimination against them. It runs a free legal helpline on 0161 930 5300.
