UK Maternity Pay 2026: SMP Rates & Eligibility

The two phases of Statutory Maternity Pay

SMP runs for up to 39 weeks in two distinct blocks:

Weeks 1–6: 90% of your average weekly earnings, uncapped. Earn £800 a week and you get £720 a week. Earn £2,000 a week and you get £1,800. There is no ceiling on this phase — it's the most generous six weeks of statutory pay in the UK system.

Weeks 7–39: £194.32 a week, or 90% of your average weekly earnings — whichever is lower. For 2026/27, £194.32 is the confirmed flat rate (up from £187.18 in 2025/26). Anyone earning above roughly £216 a week drops to the flat rate from week seven. That cliff edge is the shock: a £32,000 salary means £553.85 a week for six weeks, then £194.32 — a drop of nearly two-thirds overnight.

The last 13 weeks of the 52-week leave entitlement are unpaid. SMP itself stops at week 39.

Model your own figures with the UK Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) Calculator — enter your salary and it maps out all 39 weeks, so the week-seven drop doesn't ambush you.

Do you qualify? The four-part checklist

You qualify for SMP if all four of these are true:

1. 26 weeks' continuous employment with the same employer by the end of the qualifying week — that's the 15th week before your expected week of childbirth. So for a baby due in December, you generally needed to be employed since around the previous spring. 2. Average earnings of at least £129 a week (the 2026/27 lower earnings limit) across the eight weeks ending with the qualifying week. 3. Correct notice: tell your employer you're pregnant at least 15 weeks before the due date, and give 28 days' notice of when you want SMP to start. 4. Proof of pregnancy: the MATB1 certificate from your midwife or GP, issued from 20 weeks before the due date.

Part-time, fixed-term, and agency workers qualify on the same terms — SMP doesn't care about your contract type, only the four tests. What it doesn't cover: the self-employed, who fall back to Maternity Allowance instead (more on that below).

How "average weekly earnings" are really calculated

This is where people lose money without realising. Your average weekly earnings aren't your contractual salary — they're your actual gross earnings across a specific eight-week reference window ending with the qualifying week, including bonuses, overtime, and commission.

A bonus landing inside that window permanently raises your SMP. Salary sacrifice landing inside it permanently lowers it — because your "earnings" are the post-sacrifice figure. One woman I know of delayed a salary-sacrifice pension increase by two months so it fell outside her reference window, protecting about £40 a week of SMP across 39 weeks. That's £1,560 for the price of a calendar reminder.

If your pay varies, pull your actual payslips for the reference window and do the arithmetic — don't trust the headline salary figure. Overtime spikes, shift allowances, and backdated pay rises all count if they land inside the window, and each one nudges the 90% phase upward.

The £30,000 salary, worked end to end

Let's do the full 39 weeks for someone earning £30,000 — average weekly earnings of £576.92:

• Weeks 1–6: 90% of £576.92 = £519.23 a week × 6 = £3,115.38
• Weeks 7–39: £194.32 a week × 33 = £6,412.56 (90% of earnings would be £519.23, so the flat rate applies)
• Total gross SMP: £9,527.94

That's the statutory minimum for a £30k earner: about £244 a week averaged across the 39 paid weeks, versus £577 a week in work. The gap — roughly £1,660 a month before tax — is the number to build your budget around.

SMP is paid through payroll with income tax and National Insurance deducted like normal wages. In practice, most people pay little or no tax on it because the amounts sit well below the personal allowance. Keep your P60 and final payslips from the maternity year — you'll need them if HMRC queries anything later.

If you don't qualify: Maternity Allowance

Miss any of the four tests — changed jobs too recently, self-employed, earning under £129 a week — and your employer must give you an SMP1 form within seven days of deciding you don't qualify. Take that form plus your MATB1 to the DWP and claim Maternity Allowance instead.

Maternity Allowance pays up to £194.32 a week (the same flat rate) for 39 weeks, but without the 90%-of-earnings phase — it's flat from week one. You need 26 weeks of work (employed or self-employed) in the 66 weeks before your due date, earning at least £30 a week on average across any 13 of those weeks. It's claimed from the government, not your employer, and it's not taxed.

Self-employed mothers: this is your route, and it's a good one. Keep 13 weeks of payslips or accounts evidence — the DWP will ask.

Enhanced pay: what good employers add

SMP is the legal floor, not the ceiling. Many employers offer contractual maternity pay on top — common patterns include full pay for 12–26 weeks, then SMP, or full pay for six months flat. Check your contract and staff handbook before you announce the pregnancy; some enhanced schemes require you to return to work for a set period or repay the top-up.

Shared parental leave is the other lever: parents can split up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay between them. The pay rate matches SMP's flat rate, so it doesn't fix the money — but it fixes the flexibility.

Shared parental leave: splitting the 39 weeks

SMP doesn't have to be taken entirely by the mother. Shared parental leave lets parents split up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay between them. The mother must take the first two weeks after birth (four if she works in a factory), then the remaining leave and pay can be divided however suits the family — in blocks, alternating, or at the same time.

The pay matches SMP's structure: the 90%-of-earnings phase and then the £194.32 flat rate, just divided between two people. It doesn't fix the money — but it fixes the flexibility, and for families where the mother is the higher earner, having the partner take the later flat-rate weeks while she returns to full pay is often the financially smarter arrangement. The admin is fiddly (both employers need notice and declarations), so start the paperwork early.

Your one action this week

Find your qualifying week (15 weeks before the due date), mark the eight-week reference window before it, and check what's landing in your pay during that window. Bonuses, overtime, sacrifice changes — everything counts. That one window sets your pay for 39 weeks.