UK Parental Pay & Childcare Guides
Plain-language guides for every UK parent. No advisor-speak, no product steering, just the rules and how to apply them. According to HMRC and GOV.UK, the 2026-27 statutory flat rate is £194.32 per week and the Lower Earnings Limit is £129 per week; every guide below is built from those primary sources and our full sourcing is on the methodology page.
The rules this guide library explains
According to HMRC and GOV.UK statutory-payment rules for 2026-27, largest of 3 at 39 paid weeks (MA, SAP, and SMP) is #1 of 5 by paid weeks at KIT-days rank #2 (10 days) ≠ SPL/ShPP #1 of 5 by KIT days (20) at paid-weeks rank #4 (37 weeks). Tax-Free Childcare is excluded (max_weeks=0).
The eight guides below explain those published HMRC and GOV.UK figures. They are registry readings of the statutory framework, not personal financial or legal advice. Flat rate £194.32/wk, LEL £129/wk for 2026-27.
- 39 wks
- Paid-weeks #1largest of 3
- 20
- KIT-days #1SPL/ShPP
- 5
- Leave-duration schemesmax_weeks > 0
Registry numbers the guides explain
Live leave_types + stats rows, not hand-typed guide figures. SMP paid weeks sit against the corpus max; KIT flexibility is a separate column.
Paid weeks by scheme
The leave lengths every guide below references for 2026-27.
SMP paid weeks
vs longest scheme in corpus
SPL/ShPP KIT days
flexibility ceiling in corpus
How Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) Works in 2026-27
The 6 weeks at 90% AWE, the 33-week flat-rate phase, eligibility rules, and how employers reclaim from HMRC.
Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and Pay (ShPP) Explained
How couples split up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay, the curtailment rule, and common block patterns.
Tax-Free Childcare, Eligibility & Limits
How the £2-for-every-£8 government top-up works, the £100,000 income cap, and how it interacts with 30 free hours.
30 Hours Free Childcare, Who Qualifies in 2026-27
The eligibility rules for 30 hours of free childcare in England, term-time vs stretched, and how to combine with Tax-Free Childcare.
Returning to Work After Maternity Leave, KIT Days and Notice
How Keeping In Touch (KIT) days work, the 8-weeks notice rule, and your right to return to the same or similar role.
Statutory vs Enhanced Employer Maternity Policies
How to read your contract, common enhanced packages (13 weeks full, 26 weeks full, half-pay tail), and the tax implications.
Maternity Allowance vs SMP, Which Should You Claim?
The eligibility decision tree for self-employed, recent job-switchers, and low earners.
Pension Contributions During Maternity Leave
How employer pension contributions continue during paid SMP, how employee contributions are calculated, and the unpaid-leave gap.
Download the UK statutory parental-pay extract cited on this page: uk-statutory-parental-pay.csv (CC BY 4.0).
Methodology
These guides draw exclusively from authoritative UK government and statutory sources, primary legislation, HMRC publications, gov.uk reference pages, regulator data, and official statistics. Where worked examples appear, the arithmetic is derived from current statutory rates and rules, with the source-of-truth URL inline-cited at the relevant section.
Every guide is reviewed against its primary sources on update; the date stamp at the top of each guide marks the last review. Conflicts between our wording and the source documents are resolved in favour of the source, when in doubt, follow the citation.