Enhanced Maternity Pay 2026/27: Budgeting for the Step-Down to Statutory

How Statutory Maternity Pay actually works in 2026/27

Every eligible employee is entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay regardless of what their employer's own policy says, provided they've had at least 26 weeks' continuous service by the qualifying week (15 weeks before the expected week of childbirth) and earn at least £129 a week on average (the Lower Earnings Limit).

SMP for 2026/27 is structured in two tiers:

• Weeks 1-6: 90% of average weekly earnings (AWE), uncapped.
• Weeks 7-39: the lower of £194.32 a week or 90% of AWE.

That's a maximum of 39 paid weeks out of the 52 weeks of statutory maternity leave you're entitled to take. Weeks 40-52 are unpaid by law — anything paid in that window comes purely from employer generosity.

Use

to get your own week-by-week SMP figures based on your actual salary before reading the enhanced examples below.

What "enhanced" maternity pay adds on top

Enhanced or contractual maternity pay is a benefit an employer chooses to offer — there's no legal obligation to provide anything beyond SMP. Employers use it to compete for talent and to support retention through parental leave. Typical structures look like this:

No two employers run identical schemes, so this table is illustrative — always check your own contract or staff handbook, since the exact week thresholds and whether "half pay" tops SMP up to 50% or is paid in addition to SMP varies.

Worked example 1: modest enhancement, £2,500/month salary

Sarah earns £30,000 a year (£2,500/month, roughly £577/week average). Her employer's scheme is "6 weeks full pay, then SMP for the rest of the 39-week period."

• Weeks 1-6: full pay, £2,500/month equivalent, since 90% of her AWE (£519) is topped up to 100%.
• Weeks 7-39: £194.32/week — around £842/month, a drop of roughly £1,658/month from her normal salary.
• Weeks 40-52: unpaid, £0/month.

Sarah's household needs to plan for a monthly income of £842 from month 2 of leave through to around month 9, then £0 for the final three months if she takes the full year. That's the step-down that catches people out — the drop happens abruptly at week 7, not gradually.

Worked example 2: mid-tier enhancement, £45,000 salary

James earns £45,000 a year (£3,750/month, roughly £865/week). His employer offers "13 weeks full pay, 13 weeks half pay, then statutory."

• Weeks 1-6: full pay via the 90% AWE (uncapped) tier — his statutory entitlement already matches his salary here, so the enhancement changes nothing.
• Weeks 7-13: full pay, employer tops up SMP's £194.32/week to his full £865/week.
• Weeks 14-26: half pay — roughly £1,875/month, still well above the £194.32/week statutory floor.
• Weeks 27-39: drops to statutory £194.32/week (~£842/month).
• Weeks 40-52: unpaid.

James's household sees three separate step-downs: from full pay to half pay at week 14, from half pay to statutory at week 27, and from statutory to nil at week 40 if leave runs the full year. Run his numbers through

to map each transition against fixed outgoings like rent or a mortgage.

Worked example 3: generous scheme with clawback risk

Priya earns £60,000 a year and works for an employer offering 26 weeks full pay in exchange for a minimum 6-month return-to-work commitment, with a sliding clawback if she leaves sooner.

• Weeks 1-26: full pay, roughly £5,000/month.
• Weeks 27-39: statutory £194.32/week (~£842/month) — SMP itself is never reclaimable.
• Weeks 40-52: unpaid.

If Priya resigns 2 months after returning to work instead of the required 6, her contract might require repayment of a portion of weeks 1-26's enhancement above the SMP floor — potentially several thousand pounds. Because SMP can never be clawed back, only the enhanced element above it is at risk, but that can still be a large sum on a generous scheme, so it's worth reading the clawback clause in full before assuming a fixed-term return isn't binding.

Building a maternity leave budget around the step-downs

The mistake most parents make is budgeting off the average of their maternity pay rather than the actual month it changes. A more reliable approach:

1. Map every pay change date against your due date using
   ƒ

   Try the calculator

   Maternity Pay Calculator

   Calculate Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) for the full 39-week maternity leave.

   the maternity pay calculator→
   to get week-by-week figures specific to your salary and scheme.
2. Recalculate your household's take-home position at each step using
   ƒ

   Try the calculator

   Take-Home Pay Calculator

   Calculate your net salary after income tax, National Insurance and student loan deductions.

   Open Take-Home Pay calculator→
   — tax and NI drop as gross pay drops, so net income doesn't fall by the full gross amount.
3. Check whether your pension contributions continue during the full-pay and statutory periods; auto-enrolment minimum contributions (8% total, split 3% employer / 5% employee) are usually based on actual pay received, so contributions fall alongside your pay.
4. Build a cash buffer during full-pay months specifically earmarked for the statutory and unpaid periods — a common rule of thumb is setting aside 15-25% of full-pay income to smooth the transition.
5. If a return-to-work clawback applies, keep a note of the exact repayment terms so a change of plan doesn't create a surprise bill.

The bottom line

Enhanced maternity pay is a genuine employer benefit, but it is never open-ended — every scheme eventually steps down to the statutory £194.32 a week, and statutory pay itself stops entirely after 39 weeks even though leave can run to 52. Treat the headline "X weeks full pay" figure as the start of the budgeting exercise, not the whole picture, and map the actual step-down dates against your fixed costs well before leave begins.