Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing Statutory (a) Maternity and (b) Paternity Pay to the level of the real living wage as determined by the Living Wage Foundation.

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) and Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) are not, and have never been, intended to replace earnings completely. Both are reviewed annually, alongside state benefits, and are generally increased in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). From April 2022 the standard rate of SMP and SPP increased to £156.66, in line with the September 2021 CPI rate of 3.1%.