Teacher Maternity Pay: The Full Guide

The two layers: statutory and occupational

Every employed teacher has a statutory floor: up to 39 weeks of statutory maternity pay (SMP), paid at 90% of average weekly earnings for six weeks, then the lower of £194.32 a week or 90% of earnings for the remaining 33 weeks. On top of that sits the occupational scheme in the Burgundy Book — the national Conditions of Service negotiated between unions and employers — which most maintained-school teachers in England and Wales are employed on. The occupational layer is where the real money is.

What the Burgundy Book pays, week by week

Maternity leave itself can run to 52 weeks — 26 weeks ordinary plus 26 weeks additional — regardless of service length. The pay simply runs out before the leave does, which is why budgeting for the unpaid stretch matters as much as knowing the headline entitlements.

Who qualifies: the four categories

Entitlement depends on two clocks running simultaneously: continuous service with your current employer, and continuous service across local authority schools generally. The qualifying date is the end of the 15th week before your expected week of childbirth (EWC).

Two practical consequences follow. First, changing schools mid-career usually protects your one-year count because local authority service aggregates — but moving from an LA school into an academy can break the chain, since some trusts treat prior LA service differently. Second, supply teachers frequently fall into category 3 or 4 with their agency while still qualifying through earlier permanent service.

Worked example: an M4 teacher

Take a teacher on M4 (£40,940 in 2026/27 outside London). A week's pay works out around £787 on an indicative 1/52 basis — your payroll team applies the contractual definition, so treat these figures as illustrative rather than exact.

Compare that with statutory-only entitlement, which pays roughly £8,600 over the same 39 weeks at this salary. The occupational difference is worth about £7,100 — the single biggest financial variable most pregnant teachers control, and the reason timing career moves around the qualifying dates matters. Use a teacher maternity pay calculator style tool or ask HR to model your exact case, and check what it does to your take-home pay month by month.

Notifying your school and choosing a start date

Notify your employer by the end of the 15th week before the EWC, giving your due date, your intended start date and a MATB1 certificate from your midwife or GP. The school must respond within 28 days confirming arrangements. You can change your mind about the start date with 21 days' notice under the Burgundy Book scheme — slightly more generous than the standard 28 days for statutory purposes.

Leave cannot start earlier than 11 weeks before the EWC, and it starts automatically if you are off sick with a pregnancy-related illness in the last four weeks. If your baby arrives early, leave begins the day after birth. Antenatal appointments are paid time off throughout, and you can work up to 10 keeping-in-touch (KIT) days during leave without ending it.

The 13-week return rule and repayment trap

Enhanced occupational pay carries a condition: return to teaching for at least 13 weeks after your leave. School holidays count toward the 13 weeks. If you resign instead, you keep the first six weeks of pay and all SMP, but your employer can reclaim the twelve weeks of half pay — roughly £4,700 in the M4 example above. Employers have discretion to waive recovery, particularly where the reason you did not return was within their control, such as refusing a flexible working request or expiring a fixed-term contract.

Plan resignations against this rule deliberately. Giving notice during maternity leave interacts with normal resignation deadlines too — our resignation dates guide covers the termly cut-offs, and our leaving teaching guide sets out the wider financial picture.

Pension, tax and progression during leave

Occupational and statutory maternity pay are taxed and attract National Insurance as earnings. Pension contributions continue into the Teachers' Pension Scheme while any pay continues, based on the pay received, and your accrued benefits keep building. Crucially, scale progression continues during maternity leave: you move up the pay range as if you had been working, which raises every future calculation including this one next time. Statutory leave also protects your right to return to the same role.

Part-time teachers and returning flexibly

Part-time entitlements are calculated on actual earnings, not full-time equivalents: a 0.6 teacher receives the same percentage structure applied to their part-time salary. When you return, flexible working requests must be handled reasonably, and many schools now offer phased returns using KIT days or reduced timetables for a term. Returning on a different part-time basis resets the 13-week repayment calculation to your new pattern, so a phased return can satisfy it more gently than a full timetable from day one. The part-time pay calculator shows what different patterns pay, and if pregnancy-related illness complicates your final weeks at work, the teacher sick pay rules interact with maternity leave in ways worth checking early.

Scotland, Northern Ireland and the 2027 changes

Scottish teachers sit under SNCT terms rather than the Burgundy Book; the broad structure mirrors it but the administration and precise values differ, so Scottish searches for teacher maternity pay need Scottish sources. Northern Ireland runs a separate framework through the Education Authority. Both nations' schemes remain broadly comparable in shape.

In England, the February 2026 Schools White Paper pledged to double the full-pay period from four weeks to eight from the 2027/28 academic year, backed by dedicated funding. For maintained schools it flows through a revised Burgundy Book; for academies it depends on legislation requiring adherence to national terms. Anyone planning a pregnancy for late 2027 onward should watch this closely, because it materially improves the early months of the table above.