UK Maternity, Paternity & Shared Parental Pay Calculator

PlainMaternity is a free interactive UK statutory maternity, paternity, and shared parental pay calculator for the 2026-27 tax year. Enter your due date, gross salary, employer enhanced policy (if any), and partner's income, the calculator projects week-by-week SMP, SPP, ShPP, or Maternity Allowance payouts, accounts for the 90% Average Weekly Earnings step in the first 6 weeks, and shows when statutory pay drops to the flat £194.32/week rate. The decision engine compares Shared Parental Leave splits and Tax-Free Childcare against the 30-hour free childcare offer to help you find the highest-net-pay caregiving arrangement.

SMP is paid for up to 39 weeks. The first 6 weeks are at 90% of your average weekly earnings (AWE) - there is no cap on this initial rate, so higher earners receive proportionately more. The remaining 33 weeks are paid at the lower of either £194.32/week (the 2026-27 flat rate) or 90% of AWE, whichever is smaller. To qualify you must have been continuously employed by the same employer for at least 26 weeks ending the 15th week before your expected week of childbirth (EWC), and your AWE must be at least the Lower Earnings Limit of £129.00/week. The 13 remaining weeks of statutory maternity leave (out of the full 52 entitlement) are unpaid.

SMP is paid by your employer (and reclaimed from HMRC); Maternity Allowance is paid directly by the DWP. SMP requires 26 weeks continuous employment with the same employer; MA requires only 26 of the last 66 weeks worked (in any combination of employed or self-employed roles) earning at least £30/week in any 13 of those weeks. MA is usually the right route for the self-employed, agency workers, and anyone who switched jobs in the qualifying period. Both pay at the same flat rate of £194.32/week in 2026-27, but MA has no 90% step in the first 6 weeks. The calculator shows you which one you qualify for and which gives more total pay.

Shared Parental Leave (SPL) lets two eligible parents share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay (Shared Parental Pay, ShPP, at the same £194.32 flat rate) during the first year. The birth parent must "curtail" their SMP or MA, signalling how much of their entitlement they want to transfer. Both parents can be on leave simultaneously, or take alternating blocks. Each parent gives at least 8 weeks' notice before each leave block. Common patterns: birth parent takes 6 months while partner takes 4-6 weeks at birth then 4-6 weeks later; or birth parent takes 4 months then partner takes 4 months. Each pattern has different income, pension, and career implications, the decision engine quantifies them.

Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) is a top-up scheme: for every £8 you pay into an approved childcare account, the government adds £2, up to £2,000 per child per year (£4,000 if the child is disabled). It runs alongside the 30 free childcare hours for working parents with children aged 9 months to school age (in England). TFC works with the same OFSTED-registered providers. The two are usually combined: claim the 30 free hours for term-time childcare, then use TFC to subsidise the extra hours. You cannot claim TFC if you're already receiving Universal Credit childcare element or using childcare vouchers, they're mutually exclusive.

Many UK employers do. Enhanced maternity packages vary widely: typical "good" packages offer 13-26 weeks at full pay then drop to SMP; some offer 12 weeks full pay then 4-6 weeks at half pay; large employers often match SMP at full pay for 6 months. Enhanced packages are contractual, not statutory, your employer is required to publish their policy and most do so in the staff handbook or HR portal. The calculator lets you input "enhanced policy" terms (e.g. "13 weeks full pay") and shows how that interacts with SMP and tax-free thresholds.

No. Every calculation runs in your browser. We have no account system, no email field, no signup. Aggregate page-view metrics are collected via Umami analytics, no cookies, no personal identifiers, no third-party tracking pixels. The decision engine results are computed and rendered without leaving your device. Your salary, due date, and family information never reach our servers.