An employee reveals they’re pregnant. It’s exciting news for everyone and you’re over the moon for them. As an employer, now’s the time to get to dust off your maternity policies and paternity policies and get to grips with the legislation that you have to comply with.
From maternity and paternity leave and pay, shared parental leave and adoptive parent entitlements, to antenatal care, flexible working requests and notification periods – there’s a lot to keep up with and, more importantly, get right.
When you choose to partner with Citation we’ll work with you to make sure you’re handling your maternity and paternity obligations. From calculating maternity and paternity leave and pay, recruiting for cover through to working out holiday entitlement and benefits, we’ll be by your side when it counts.
The first thing you need to head around is an employee’s entitlement to maternity or paternity leave. Each is a little different from the other. Let’s take a look at what they both entail.
There are two parts to maternity leave:
In terms of entitlement to paternity leave, qualifying employees are those who:
We've covered everything you need to know after an employee announces she's expecting.
A guide to paternity leave and pay
Everything you need to know about paternity leave and pay - in one guide.
Statutory Maternity Pay is paid for up to 39 weeks and should be processed the same way you’d normally pay your employee.
To qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), employees must meet the following criteria:
Employees are entitled to Statutory Paternity Pay if:
If an employee’s entitled to Statutory Paternity Pay they should be paid for the entirety of their ordinary paternity leave period.
Employees who qualify for statutory maternity or paternity pay are entitled to either the statutory weekly rate of £148.68 (as of April 2019) or 90% of their weekly earnings – whichever is lower. This should be paid in the same way as their normal wage.
To help you keep on top of all the important dates you need to calculate maternity leave and pay, we’ve built our very own maternity calculator.
All you need is the employee’s due date and we’ll do the rest for you! We’ll tell you:
Anyone who employs a pregnant worker has a legal duty, under the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations, to perform a risk assessment and implement any necessary control measures to either control, eliminate or reduce any identified risks.
This also applies to employees of childbearing age who have given birth in the previous six months or who are breastfeeding.
Risks could include for example:
If you want more information on how to properly asses risks for pregnant employees, support expectant and new parents in your workplace, download our exclusive free guide here.
Whether you need to get your head around leave dates, calculate pay, or recruit for cover – Citation’s paternity and maternity leave services have your back – the whole way through.
Our 24/7 advice line, gives you access to our team of HR & Employment Law experts any time of the day or night, year-round. You’ll have access to thousands of risk assessment templates which you can tailor to your business and use to help bolster your Health & Safety when one of your people is expecting.
Want to work with us? Just fill in your details in the form opposite and one of our team will call you back to get the ball rolling.
GET A FREE CONSULTATION
The online systems have made CQC Inspections less daunting as we know we have the necessary documentation to hand.
I know I can pick up he phone and be give the answer straight away.
The consultants we work with are absolutely superb - we never have to worry about Employment Law.