Handling an employee’s return to work after maternity leave can feel like a bit of a minefield to most employers. Added to this is the risk of expensive pregnancy and maternity related discrimination claims as well as possible sex discrimination and constructive dismissal claims if they get things wrong.
By Banner Jones
Read our popular Return to Work After Maternity Leave – UK Returner Plan & Checklist (2026)
Statutory Maternity Leave
Expectant mothers are entitled to take up to 12 months maternity leave to spend with their new born. This is broken down as 26 weeks Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML) and 26 weeks Additional Maternity Leave (AML). The first 2 weeks of maternity leave after baby is born, is compulsory maternity leave (CML) and an employer must not ask or allow the employee to undertake any work during this period.
An employer is to assume that their employee will return to work after 12 months unless they are told differently by the employee. An employee can request to return sooner and this can be agreed before they start maternity leave. If they decide they do want to return sooner than previously agreed, the employee should provide 8 weeks’ notice of their request. An employer can agree to this request with less, or no notice.
Extending Maternity Leave
Occasionally, some employees want to extend their leave to beyond the 12 months statutory maternity leave. This can be done by agreement from their employer or they can apply to take parental leave. In order to do this the employee must give 21 days’ notice of her intention to take parental leave, the employee may take no more than four weeks in any given year; and the employer may postpone the parental leave by up to six months to avoid undue operational disruption.
More commonly, an employee on maternity leave may request to add any accrued, untaken holiday to the end of their maternity leave. Employee’s on maternity leave continue to accrue annual leave during their absence and are entitled to carry this over in to their next holiday year.