Most UK firms provide more than minimum maternity pay for female staff

Three-quarters of companies provide more than the statutory maternity pay requirement, according to research by Incomes Data Services (IDS).

The survey also revealed that about half (52%) of respondents think that the current statutory minimum maternity pay for women is too low.

IDS surveyed 115 organisations, which collectively employ 470,415 people.

Since April 2007, all pregnant employees are entitled to 52 weeks’ maternity leave regardless of the length of service with their company. Statutory paid maternity leave is 39 weeks, with only the first six weeks paid at 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, and the remaining 33 weeks at a ‘prescribed rate’ of £117.18 per week.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

Email(Required)

OptOut

From time to time, we will send you emails about selected products, events and services from Personnel Today and OHW+ - but you can choose to opt-out at any time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please tick this box.

Phone

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ

The findings appear against a backdrop of recent reports suggesting that the government was considering delaying the extension of the maternity pay period from 39 to 52 weeks.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “The government should not use the recession as a reason to delay planned improvements to maternity pay and family-friendly working. Increasing maternity pay would not be a huge extra cost to business and would help companies recruit and retain highly skilled female employees.”