Maternity Leave

(asked on 14th May 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans the Government has to bring forward legislative proposals to strengthen maternity protections for women with (a) casual and (b) zero hours employment contracts.


Answered by
Kit Malthouse Portrait
Kit Malthouse
This question was answered on 16th May 2018

There are two maternity payments available to pregnant working women depending on their circumstances. Statutory Maternity Pay paid by employers to qualifying employed women; and Maternity Allowance paid by the Department for Work and Pensions, to eligible women including those employed women who cannot get SMP and the self-employed.

The qualifying rules for Maternity Allowance are based on a woman’s recent record of employment or self-employment and her earnings regardless of the type of employment contract she may have. The rules are more flexible than those for Statutory Maternity Pay and do not require a continuous employment record. Providing a woman has worked for 26 weeks out of the 66 weeks immediately preceding the week her baby is due, she may qualify for Maternity Allowance. Women can qualify with a mixture of casual, fixed term and zero hours employment, as well as periods of self-employment or unemployment.

The flexibilities within existing maternity provisions aim to enable as many working women as possible to stop work in the interest of her health and that of her baby whilst maintaining a balance with the needs of employers. Currently there are no plans to introduce any legislative changes in this area.

Reticulating Splines