Working Parents: Know Your Rights

Everyone has the right to maternity and paternity leave. The question is: can you afford to take it?

News of high profile working mothers returning to the office within days of giving birth have flooded papers recently.

French politician Rachida Dati took five days' maternity leave, while Michelle Mone, founder of the Ultimo underwear chain, says she returned to work four days after giving birth.

And they are not alone - Sarah Palin famously took three days' maternity leave after the birth of her son Trig, and Karren Brady, managing director of Birmingham City Football club, took off less than a week after giving birth to her first child.

However, there are other extremely successful women who managed to stay away from the office. City superwoman and mother of six Nicola Horlick took six months' maternity leave, for example.

The trouble is, after giving birth, you may feel you have to return to work as quickly as possible due to financial pressures or for fear of losing your job - particularly during a recession.

So what are your rights?

Maternity leave

Legislation entitles most working women to take 39 weeks of paid maternity leave and up to a year if they forego pay for the last 13 weeks.

Your employers may offer their own maternity leave scheme - check your contract of employment or staff handbook, or ask your employer's HR department. Some company schemes, for example, require you to pay back some money if you don't come back to work.

However, remember that any employer's scheme must pay at least as much as Statutory Maternity Pay.

Statutory maternity pay

To qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay you must be earning an average of at least £90 a week (before tax) and have been with the same employer for at least 26 weeks at the point 15 weeks before your baby was due.

Statutory Maternity Pay is 90% of your average weekly earnings for the first six weeks of your maternity leave and, for the remaining 33 weeks, up to £117.18 a week.

Your employer will usually pay your Statutory Maternity Pay in the same way and at the same time as your normal wages. To claim it, you must tell your employer at least 28 days before you intend to stop work to have your baby. You must also give your employer evidence of when your baby is due.

You'll receive this pay even if you decide to leave your job before you start receiving maternity pay. And you don't have to repay it if you decide not to go back to work or if you leave your job while still receiving it.

The earliest your maternity leave can start is 11 weeks before the week your baby is due. But you can choose to start it later.

How mothers fare in the rest of Europe

We appear to have it pretty good. Maternity leave periods range from 14 weeks in Germany and 16 weeks in France, the Netherlands and Spain, to 45 weeks in Bulgaria.

Yet Sweden is particularly generous, offering a year of parental leave at full pay, which can be transferred to the father.

Paternity Leave

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg believes bonding between fathers and their babies is just as important as with their mothers. Recently he stated, somewhat controversially, that dads should be allowed to take a year's paid maternity leave too.

However, under current law new fathers are only entitled to two week's statutory paternity leave with 90% pay.

Do the self-employed get anything?

Unfortunately, only pregnant women employed by a company will benefit from maternity pay.

However, if you can't get Statutory Maternity Pay, you may be able to get Maternity Allowance (MA) instead. To get the allowance, you have to be employed, or self-employed and pay Class 2 National Insurance contributions.

Other conditions are that you were employed or self-employed for at least 26 of the 66 weeks before the week your baby was due and you earned an average of £30 over any 13 of those 66 weeks.

The standard rate of MA is £117.18 or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is less, and this is not liable to income tax or NI contributions.

You can start claiming MA when you have been pregnant for at least 26 weeks.

Parental leave

As an employee, you can take a total of up to 13 weeks' unpaid `parental leave' for each of your children up until their fifth birthday - although you cannot take more than four weeks' leave for any one child in a year.

You could, in theory, take these four weeks of unpaid leave straight after you finish your maternity or paternity leave.

Returning to work

When you return to work from maternity, paternity or parental leave, you have the right to do the same job you were doing before - unless your employer can show it's not "reasonably practicable" for them to take you back in your original job (e.g. because the job no longer exists). But then you should be offered alternative work, with the same terms and conditions.

As the parent of a child under six, you are entitled to request flexible working hours. Your employer does not have to agree to your request, but it must consider it and respond in writing.

If you are unhappy about the way your employer is treating you, you can take your grievance to the Employment Tribunal.

For more information

Visit Directgov can give your more information about the rights of parents who work, and the benefits available to new parents. You can order official guides to maternity leave and maternity pay by calling 0845 015 0010.