PlainMaternity Editorial

PlainMaternity Editorial

Editorial Team

our editorial team specialising in UK statutory parental pay and family-benefits reference content

Background

PlainMaternity Editorial is the team responsible for compiling 2026-27 HMRC and GOV.UK statutory parental-pay rules, Statutory Maternity Pay rates, Shared Parental Leave mechanics, Maternity Allowance eligibility, and Tax-Free Childcare scheme rules into plain-English calculators, decision aids, and reference pages. Every rate and rule is independently verified against the published HMRC rate-and-allowance publication, GOV.UK guidance, ACAS practical-application notes, or the relevant primary UK legislation (Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992; Children and Families Act 2014; Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024) before publication.

Editorial approach

The PlainMaternity Editorial editorial process follows PlainMaternity's Editorial Standards for Data Journalism. Every dataset we cover is traced back to its originating public source, and we publish the provenance of each statistic on the page so readers can verify it independently. We do not accept compensation, sponsorship, or influence from entities we cover.

When we present derived numbers (rankings, ratios, comparisons), the methodology page documents exactly how the figure was computed. If a number cannot be computed consistently across every entity in the dataset, we either disclose the gap or omit the comparison rather than present misleading data.

How content is produced

Data ingestion and computation are handled by deterministic pipelines — every numeric value, ranking, and ratio shown on a data page comes directly from the upstream source agency, unmodified. Numbers are never estimated or interpolated. Where we draw data from a primary public dataset, the figure is reproduced exactly as the source published it, and the originating dataset is named and dated on the page. The plain-language summaries and explanations that surround those figures are generated from the source data to help readers interpret it, while the figures themselves are computed directly from the source by the pipeline, not hand-entered.

Source attribution is shown on every page; the methodology underlying any derived figure is documented at the link above. We follow the guidance of Google Search Central's Helpful Content principles — write for readers, document sources, and disclose the editorial process — and welcome any factual flag at the contact link below.

Corrections and feedback

If you find an error, stale figure, or missing context on any page we publish, please use the contact page or write to hello@plainmaternity.co.uk with the URL and the issue. We aim to respond within 72 hours and to publish corrections with a visible revision note.

Areas of focus

  • UK Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)
  • Statutory Paternity Pay and 2024 splitting rules
  • Shared Parental Leave and Pay (SPL / ShPP)
  • Maternity Allowance for the self-employed
  • Tax-Free Childcare and 30 hours free childcare combinations

Contact and identity