What makes a great maternity leave policy and why every company needs one

Crafting an excellent parental leave policy is crucial for supporting all employees as they start or grow their families. It's vital to move beyond just traditional maternity leave and paternity leave to include options like Shared Parental Leave, ensuring every team member feels included and supported, no matter their gender identity, sexual orientation, or family structure.

We know drafting such a policy can feel overwhelming, with so many details to consider, like the length of the leave period and an employee's eligibility based on their employment status. That's where we come in. We're here to make it easier for you by clearly outlining tangible ways you can create and implement a strong parental leave policy in your workplace.

In this article, we’ll cover the key elements of a strong parental leave or maternity leave policy that promotes inclusivity and provides flexibility for all parents, no matter how they choose to build their family.

Every company is different, so your policy should reflect your company’s unique culture. This article will provide tips and examples from companies that have done it well, so you can see what works for you.

Understanding maternity leave

In the UK, Statutory Maternity Leave includes up to 52 weeks, divided into ordinary maternity leave and additional maternity leave. Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), which is available for up to 39 weeks, is based on the employee's earnings. The first 6 weeks are paid at 90% of their average weekly earnings, and the remaining 33 weeks are paid at a standard rate or 90% of their average weekly earnings if lower. To be eligible for SMP, an employee must meet certain conditions regarding their length of service and earnings, and have paid sufficient National Insurance contributions.

A robust policy will also cover contractual maternity pay, which may exceed statutory requirements as part of a company maternity scheme. Employers should address all employment rights, ensuring that pregnant employees are aware of their rights and avoiding any form of discrimination that could lead to an employment tribunal.

To process maternity pay, companies often require a MATB1 form, which confirms the due date. Some may also ask to see a copy of the child's birth certificate, especially if the leave period begins earlier than expected. However, this isn't a legal requirement, and you can decide if it's necessary for your policy.

Key Elements of a Great Parental Leave Policy

A forward-thinking parental leave policy is more than a legal requirement; it is a strategic tool for talent attraction, retention, and fostering an inclusive company culture. It's a key part of your overall employee benefits package. Here is how to ensure your policy is not just compliant, but truly of the highest standard.

Inclusivity for All Family Structures

In today's diverse workforce, a single approach to family leave is obsolete. A truly inclusive policy acknowledges and celebrates that families are formed in many ways.

• Broaden the Scope: Your policy must explicitly cover diverse paths to parenthood. This means having clear provisions for adoption leave and surrogacy, alongside pregnancy. It should serve single parents and LGBTQ+ couples with the same level of support, ensuring no employee feels excluded based on their family structure or journey.
• Embrace Inclusive Language: Language is a powerful signal of your company’s culture. Replace outdated terms like 'mother' and 'father' with more precise and inclusive language. Using terms like 'birthing parent' accommodates trans employees and those who are non-binary, while 'primary caregiver' and 'secondary caregiver' or 'partner' allow parents to define their roles based on their family's needs, not traditional gender norms.
• Unify Your Policy: We strongly recommend moving away from separate maternity leave and paternity leave policies. A single, unified 'Parental Leave' policy, incorporating Shared Parental Leave and Pay, is the gold standard. This simplifies administration for HR teams and, more importantly, sends a clear message that you support all parents equally, regardless of gender.

Clear Eligibility and Notice Requirements

Ambiguity creates stress for employees and administrative headaches for HR. A great policy is built on clarity, transparency, and communication, ensuring both the employee and their team can plan effectively.

• Define Eligibility Clearly: State the criteria for accessing parental leave in simple, jargon-free terms. Outline who is eligible for statutory pay versus enhanced pay and leave, and from what point in their length of service.
• Simplify the Process: While UK statutory guidelines require pregnant employees to provide notice by the fifteenth week before the due date, consider how you can make this process less rigid. Offer a clear guide with simple steps on your intranet explaining how to apply for leave, who to notify, and what documentation is needed (such as a MATB1 form). Providing this framework reduces employee anxiety and empowers line managers to support their team members effectively.
• Offer Flexibility Where Possible: Acknowledging that pregnancies and adoptions do not always go to a precise schedule can build significant goodwill. Building in scope for flexibility, for example by allowing leave dates to be amended with reasonable notice, demonstrates trust and empathy.

Comprehensive Benefits

To stand out as an employer, your benefits must go beyond the statutory minimum. This is a critical investment in your talent, with a direct return in loyalty, engagement, and retention.

• Go beyond Statutory Pay: A competitive policy should, at a minimum, detail Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Shared Parental Pay, and statutory Paternity Pay. However, to truly stand out, offering enhanced contractual maternity pay or equivalent enhanced adoption pay is key. This demonstrates a significant investment in your employees' wellbeing and financial stability during a critical life event. When benchmarking, consider not just the percentage of pay but also the duration for which it is offered. An online SMP calculator can help model costs, and tools like payroll software can simplify administration.
• Equalise Partner Leave: Offering only the statutory minimum for paternity leave creates a disparity that can reinforce traditional gender roles. Leading companies are now offering enhanced, extended leave for partners and secondary caregivers, allowing all parents to be actively involved. Providing enhanced shared parental pay is a powerful driver for gender equality both at home and in the workplace.
• Clarify Contractual Benefits: Your policy must explicitly state what happens to other employee benefits during a leave period. This includes pension contributions based on National Insurance contributions, holiday accrual, bonus eligibility, commission schemes, and share options. Clarity here prevents future disputes and ensures employees feel their overall package, including eligibility for pay rises, is protected.
• Support Beyond the Basics: The parental journey does not end when the leave period begins. Holistic support that covers the entire perinatal period is what transforms a good policy into a great one. This includes ensuring managers conduct pregnancy risk assessments and offering paid time off for antenatal appointments, which is a legal right for the pregnant employee but can be extended to partners as a benefit. During leave, you can establish clear guidelines for keeping in touch days (KIT days) so employees can stay connected without pressure.
• Invest in a Seamless Return to Work: The return to work phase is often the most challenging. Proactive support can dramatically improve retention. Offer phased returns, flexible working arrangements like compressed hours or remote days, and dedicated, private, and hygienic breastfeeding or expressing facilities.
• Provide Expert Clinical and Wellbeing Support: Navigating pregnancy and postpartum challenges can be overwhelming. This can include difficult situations requiring neonatal care. By providing access to specialist support, including new provisions like statutory Neonatal Care Leave, you give your employees a vital lifeline. If you are looking to implement this, Fertifa's offering covers the entire journey. We provide employees with one-to-one clinical care and direct access to experts including obstetricians, gynaecologists, lactation consultants, sleep consultants, night nurses, and midwives, ensuring your people get the support they need, when they need it most.

Addressing Maternity Discrimination

A policy is only as strong as its ability to protect your employees. It must provide robust safeguards and create a culture of psychological safety, ensuring that no employee fears their career will be penalised for starting a family.

• Embed Anti-Discrimination Clauses: Your policy should explicitly reference your commitment to preventing discrimination, as outlined in the Equality Act 2010. Reassure employees that their role is secure and that they are protected from any unfair treatment or dismissal related to their pregnancy or parental leave, thereby avoiding a potential employment tribunal.
• Train Your Line Managers: Discrimination often stems from unconscious bias or a lack of understanding. Equip your line managers with training on their legal obligations, how to manage a team member's leave transition sensitively, and how to conduct unbiased performance and promotion reviews that account for a maternity leave period.
• Protect Career Progression: A major fear for employees is that taking parental leave will negatively impact their career trajectory. Your policy should proactively state how performance reviews, pay rises, and promotion opportunities will be handled fairly for those on, or returning from, parental leave. This ensures that career momentum is not lost.

Companies with the best parental and maternity benefits

Leading companies are setting a high bar with their parental leave and maternity benefits, using them as a powerful tool to attract and keep top talent. They understand that supporting employees through major life events builds loyalty and fosters a stronger, more inclusive culture.

Some of our valued clients across various industries, including tech, finance, and legal, are already doing this. These include companies like Sony Interactive Entertainment, Balderton, Citadel, and Fried Frank, among others. For instance, Balderton Capital priotitises their employees’ wellbeing by offering a 26-week gender-blind parental leave policy on top of their Fertifa package. Citadel also empowers its new parents with generous, fully-paid leave, offering up to eight weeks for childbirth and four weeks for bonding, all accessible after just three months of employment. Through our partnership, clients can offer a wide range of reproductive health employee benefits, covering everything from fertility and family-forming to menopause and maternity leave. The support we provide allows employees to access 1-2-1 clinical support, our in-house midwifery and doula team, and pre/post-natal guidance.

Here are some of the ways leading companies are going above and beyond:

Extended Paid Leave

While the UK statutory entitlement provides a 52-week leave period, the statutory pay drops significantly after the initial weeks. Leading organisations go far beyond this baseline to provide genuine financial security, often as part of a comprehensive company maternity scheme. This frequently involves offering 26 weeks or more at full pay. Crucially, the most forward-thinking companies now offer equal paid leave for all parents, regardless of gender. By giving partners the same enhanced paternity leave or enabling parents to use Shared Parental Leave and Pay with enhanced shared parental pay, these businesses actively promote shared childcare responsibilities and drive gender equality in the workplace.

Flexible Return to Work Options

The transition from parental leave back to a full-time role can be daunting. To protect their investment in talent and ease this process, top employers provide structured, flexible options for the return to work. This can include a phased return, for example working three days a week for the first month, or offering compressed hours. Providing opportunities for remote or hybrid work also gives new parents the vital balance they need.

Enhanced Support Services

A great policy recognises that new parents need more than just time and money. Leading companies provide a range of support services that address the practical, emotional, and professional challenges of parenthood. This includes access to lactation consultants, parenting workshops, and crucially, specialised mental health services to support employees through the perinatal period. This can include support for families requiring neonatal care.

Inclusive Benefits for All Family Types

The best companies understand that families are built in many different ways. Their employee benefits reflect this by providing equitable support for all paths to parenthood. This means offering comprehensive adoption leave and financial support (enhanced adoption pay) for adoption and surrogacy, on par with policies for birthing parents. It also includes offering benefits that cover fertility treatments and preservation. By doing so, these organisations, often applauded by advocacy groups like Maternity Action, ensure all employees feel seen and supported in their family-forming journeys.

Going beyond PMI

Top employers are now bridging the gender gap in healthcare by going beyond private medical insurance, providing benefits that address the specific health needs of their employees. They recognise that supporting employee health goes beyond general wellness. This means providing real support for reproductive health and chronic conditions, which have been historically overlooked. Our women's health and men's health support, for example, covers everything from contraception, PCOS, endometriosis, menopause and fibroids, to early detection of prostate and testicular cancer, fertility testing and more. This comprehensive approach demonstrates a profound commitment to employee wellbeing and builds a culture of genuine care.

Why your company needs a strong parental or maternity leave policy

A robust maternity leave policy will benefit your company in several ways:

• Attracting top talent: A comprehensive parental leave policy, covering maternity leave, paternity leave, and shared parental leave, will attract high-calibre candidates, especially those looking for inclusive and supportive work environments.
• Promoting inclusivity: An inclusive policy demonstrates your company’s commitment to respecting all family structures and diverse needs, which in turn creates a welcoming workplace where all employment rights are respected.
• Reducing turnover: Supporting employees through significant life events, from planning around a due date to navigating their return to work, reduces turnover and associated costs, contributing to a more stable workforce.
• Enhancing employee wellbeing: A strong policy helps employees balance their professional and personal lives, improving overall job satisfaction and productivity during and after their leave period.

Crafting a great parental leave policy is not just about compliance; it's about demonstrating your commitment to your employees' wellbeing and your company's values. By being thoughtful and dedicated to addressing diverse needs, you build a supportive, inclusive workplace where all of your employees can thrive.

If you need any help in developing a comprehensive parental or maternity leave policy that supports your employees and aligns with your company values, give us a call or stay tuned for the release of our policy template. We’re here to help you create a policy that truly makes a difference 💜