Maternity Leave

For employees, Statutory Maternity Leave is 52 weeks. You must meet notice conditions, including letting your employer know you are pregnant and telling them, by the end of the 15th week before your baby is due, when you want to take your maternity leave. It can be at any time on, or after, the 11th week before your baby is due.  However, your maternity leave will start automatically if you’re off work for any reason to do with your pregnancy from the fourth week before your baby is due and you must take at least two weeks immediately after the baby is born.

If you’re an employee and give your employer the right notice, you can take Statutory Maternity Leave no matter:

• how long you have been with your employer
• how many hours you work
• how much you are paid

Every pregnant employee is entitled to time off with pay for antenatal care.  For further information please visit: NI Direct

While you are on maternity leave, your employment continues and you continue to benefit from all of your rights and benefits as though you were at work, except for your wages.

Source: Working Families.org.uk

Parental Leave

Parents who have worked for the same employer for at least one year are entitled to 18 weeks’ unpaid parental leave for each child, which can be taken up until the child’s 18th birthday. You cannot take more than four weeks’ parental leave for any one child in a year, unless otherwise agreed with your employer.

Shared Parental Leave and Pay

When your baby is born and during their first year, you and your partner might be entitled to shared rights to leave and pay.  For more information please visit – NI Direct

Maternity Pay

Though you are not entitled to your normal pay, most women employees are entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance:

Statutory Maternity Pay

To help you to take time off work both before and after your baby is born, you may be able to get Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) for 39 weeks. This a weekly payment from your employer. For further information please see the following: NI Direct An Introduction to SMP

If you work for a UK employer in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland, you may get SMP as long as you’re eligible. Further information: https://www.gov.uk/

Maternity Allowance

If you’re pregnant or have a new baby but don’t qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), you may be able to claim Maternity Allowance (MA).  For further information please see the Maternity Allowance section of  www.nidirect.gov.uk

Statutory Paternity Pay

In Northern Ireland fathers may be able to get Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) which is paid by the employer. For further information please see the Statutory Paternity Pay section of  www.nidirect.gov.uk

Cross-border Issues

If you are not a frontier worker but live in the South and wish to use a Northern hospital for antenatal care and for the birth of your baby it is usually necessary to hire the services of a private consultant.

The consultant may charge approximately £2000 for antenatal care and attendance at the delivery. The hospital charges may be in the region of £2000-£4000 depending on the hospital and the type of delivery needed.

You should contact the maternity department of the hospital as soon as possible and request contact details for their consultants.

Frontier workers

If you are a frontier worker, i.e. you work in the South and live in the Northern you are entitled to NHS health care which is residency based.

If you live in the South and work in the North, you are entitled to free NHS health care including maternity care. Please note when you take the baby home from the hospital he or she is not entitled to NHS healthcare, instead they will be covered by the Irish health system.

If you are not eligible for SMP from your employer, you may be able to get Maternity Allowance.  If you live in the South and work in the North you should contact the International Pension Centre (Maternity Allowance Section) on +44 (0)1912187644

If you don’t have sufficient National Insurance Contributions to claim Maternity Allowance you can ask that your EU record of social insurance contributions (PRSI paid across the border) is taken into consideration.

See also:

• BorderPeople – Maternity FAQ
• BorderPeople – ·Child Benefit in Northern Ireland
• BorderPeople – Universal Credit

Page last checked: June 2022

This webpage is for general information purposes only and while we endeavour to keep it up-to-date, errors may occur. It is very important that you check with the relevant body to ensure the information is current and is applicable to your situation.

If you would like to suggest amendments or highlight new information that could be useful to others please don’t hesitate to get in touch.