Maternity Pay Calculator: SMP and Maternity Allowance Guide

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is paid for up to 39 weeks. You get 90% of your average weekly earnings (before tax) for the first 6 weeks, and £194.32 or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower, for the next 33 weeks. SMP is paid in the same way as your wages, for example monthly or weekly, and tax and National Insurance will be deducted.

The 39 weeks of pay sit inside up to 52 weeks of Statutory Maternity Leave. The £194.32 figure is for 2026/27. Our maternity leave and pay guide covers your leave rights.

To qualify for SMP you must:

• ✓Yes: earn on average at least £129 a week
• ✓Yes: give the correct notice and proof you are pregnant
• ✓Yes: have worked for your employer continuously for at least 26 weeks continuing into the qualifying week, which is the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth

You must give your employer at least 28 days' notice of the day you want SMP to start, and proof of the pregnancy within 21 days of your SMP start date, either a letter from your doctor or midwife or your MATB1 certificate. If your employer decides you are not eligible, they must give you form SMP1 within 7 days, and you may be eligible for Maternity Allowance instead.

Your employer works out your average weekly earnings from your pay over a set period. In Great Britain the regulations take the period between the last normal pay day before the first day of the 14th week before your due week, and the last normal pay day at least 8 weeks earlier. That means at least 8 weeks of pay.

Ask your employer to explain your SMP if you think it is not right. If you disagree about the amount, or your employer cannot pay, for example because they are insolvent, contact the Statutory Payment Disputes Team.

For weeks 7 to 39 you get the lower of £194.32 and 90% of your average weekly earnings. Dividing £194.32 by 0.9 gives £215.91, so if your average weekly earnings are above about £215.91, 90% of them is more than £194.32 and you are paid the flat £194.32. If your average weekly earnings are below that, you are paid 90% of them in every week.

These use the 2026/27 rates and assume you qualify and are paid for the full 39 weeks. They are illustrations: your own figures depend on your actual pay.

A full-time worker on the National Living Wage

The National Living Wage is £12.71 an hour. For a standard full-time week that is £508.40. 90% of that is £457.56, which is paid for each of the first 6 weeks, £2,745.36 in all. For weeks 7 to 39, 90% of £508.40 is more than £194.32, so you get the flat £194.32 for 33 weeks, £6,412.56. The total over 39 weeks is £9,157.92 before tax.

Someone earning exactly the £129 qualifying level

90% of £129 is £116.10. That is lower than £194.32, so you are paid £116.10 in every one of the 39 weeks, £4,527.90 before tax.

Maternity Allowance at the full rate

39 weeks at £194.32 is £7,578.48. If you are self-employed and have paid no Class 2 National Insurance contributions you get £27 a week, which is £1,053 over 39 weeks. If you do unpaid work for your spouse or civil partner's business you get £27 a week for up to 14 weeks, which is £378.

If you cannot get SMP you could get Maternity Allowance for up to 39 weeks. If you are employed or have recently stopped working, it is £194.32 a week or 90% of your average weekly earnings, whichever is less. If you are self-employed it is between £27 and £194.32 a week, depending on your Class 2 contributions. You must have been employed or self-employed for at least 26 weeks in the 66 weeks before your baby is due.

The £27 a week for unpaid work in a spouse or civil partner's business is 90% of the £30 weekly earnings threshold. Our Maternity Allowance guide explains the rules, the MA1 form and the 3 month claim deadline.

GOV.UK has a tool to check if you can get maternity or paternity leave or pay, or Maternity Allowance, and to work out dates and amounts. You need your baby's due date, your employment status, and for each current or recent job the start date, how much you earned and the end date if it has ended. Employers can use the GOV.UK maternity, adoption and paternity calculator to work out an employee's pay.

The numbers are the same in Northern Ireland. nidirect gives SMP at 90 per cent of your average gross weekly earnings with no upper limit for the first six weeks, then the lowest of £194.32 or 90 per cent of average gross weekly earnings for the remaining 33 weeks, with a lower earnings limit of £129 in the 2026 to 2027 tax year. If your employer awards a pay rise effective at any time from the start of the period used to work out your SMP to the end of your maternity leave, they must work out your SMP again and pay any balance due. Maternity Allowance rates are the same too.