Updated for 2026 to 2027

Redundancy on Maternity Leave

You can be made redundant while pregnant or on maternity leave, but only for a genuine redundancy and never because of the pregnancy or the leave. You get priority for any suitable vacancy until 18 months after the birth, your Statutory Maternity Pay keeps being paid, and redundancy pay is worked out on your normal pay.

18 months
Priority for suitable jobs after the birth
39 weeks
Of SMP, even if your job ends
£751
Weekly pay cap for redundancy pay
£30,000
Redundancy pay tax free up to

By Idiris Chadburn, UK payroll professional

Can you be made redundant on maternity leave?

Yes, if the redundancy is genuine and the selection is fair. Selecting you because you are pregnant or on maternity leave is automatically unfair dismissal, and can also be pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

Since 6 April 2024 a redundancy protected period covers pregnancy and the time after maternity leave as well as the leave itself. It:

starts when you tell your employer you are pregnant
ends 18 months from the date of birth, or from the expected week of childbirth if you have not told your employer the exact date
ends 2 weeks after the end of the pregnancy after a miscarriage before 24 weeks; after a stillbirth from 24 weeks it still runs 18 months
ends early if your employment ends

The same protection applies on adoption leave and on 6 weeks or more of shared parental leave. It does not apply to paternity leave. You need to be an employee: agency, casual and zero hours workers are not usually covered.

Your right to a suitable alternative job

If your employer has a suitable vacancy, it must offer it to you before other employees, even if a colleague is better suited to it.

A job is suitable depending on how similar the work is, its terms, your skills and circumstances, and the pay, status, hours and location. If your employer has a suitable vacancy and does not offer it, the redundancy can be an unfair dismissal.

When roles are cut rather than created

Where an employer reduces the number of existing roles, you go through the same fair selection process as everyone else. The roles that remain are not vacancies, so the priority right does not apply to them. New roles created in a restructure can be.

Trial period

You have a 4-week trial in any alternative job. If you tell your employer in that time that it is not suitable, you keep your right to redundancy pay. Turning down a suitable job without good reason can cost you statutory redundancy pay.

What happens to your maternity pay if you are made redundant?

If you qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay, you keep getting it for the rest of the 39 weeks after your job ends. It does not matter why you left, and your employer cannot ask you to repay it.

Qualifying depends on being employed into the qualifying week, the 15th week before the baby is due, with 26 weeks' service by then. A job that ends after that point does not take SMP away.

If you leave before the Sunday of the 11th week before the baby is due, SMP starts on that Sunday or the day after the birth, whichever is earlier.
If you leave after the 11th week starts, and before anything else triggers your pay, SMP starts the day after your last day of employment.
Your employer can pay the remaining SMP as a lump sum, but you and your employer could pay more National Insurance than if it is paid on your normal payday.

If you are dismissed to avoid paying SMP

If an employer ends your contract solely or mainly to avoid paying SMP, and you had worked there for at least 8 weeks in a row, it still has to pay it. Your SMP is worked out as if you had stayed employed on the same terms.

Company maternity pay

Enhanced pay above SMP comes from your contract or your employer's policy, so whether it continues after your job ends depends on those terms, including any return-to-work condition. Our guide to paying back maternity pay goes through each scheme's rule.

If your job ends before the qualifying week and you cannot get SMP, you may be able to claim Maternity Allowance instead.

How redundancy pay is worked out on maternity leave

You get statutory redundancy pay after 2 years with your employer, on top of your maternity pay. It is based on your normal weekly pay before your leave, not your reduced maternity pay.

For each full year of service, counted back from when your job ends:

half a week's pay for each year you were under 22
one week's pay for each year you were 22 or older, but under 41
one and a half weeks' pay for each year you were 41 or older

Service is capped at 20years. For redundancies on or after 6 April 2026 a week's pay is capped at £751, so the most anyone gets is £22,530.00. You have 6 months from the date your job ends to claim it.

Age 28, 3 years

Normal pay £450.00 a week

Weeks	Rate	Amount
3 years	3 at 1 = 3 weeks × £450.00	£1,350.00
Total		£1,350.00

Paid on top of any SMP still due.

Age 34, 6 years

Normal pay £600.00 a week

Weeks	Rate	Amount
6 years	6 at 1 = 6 weeks × £600.00	£3,600.00
Total		£3,600.00

Paid on top of any SMP still due.

Age 42, 9 years

Normal pay £900.00 a week

Weeks	Rate	Amount
9 years	1 at 1.5, 8 at 1 = 9.5 weeks × £751.00	£7,134.50
Total		£7,134.50

Pay above £751 a week is capped, so £751.00 is used.

The examples count each year at the age you were for the whole of it. GOV.UK's redundancy pay calculator works it out from your date of birth. Your contract may give more than the statutory amount, but not less.

Notice pay while you are on maternity leave

You are owed your notice period as well as redundancy pay. If your employer gives notice while you are on maternity leave, you are normally entitled to full pay for the statutory notice period, not just your maternity pay.

The statutory minimum notice from your employer is:

1 week if you have worked there between 1 month and 2 years
1 week for each full year between 2 and 12 years (6 years: 6 weeks)
12 weeks after 12 years or more

Under section 88 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, an employee with normal working hours who is absent because of pregnancy or childbirth during the notice period must be paid at least their normal rate for those hours. Any SMP or company maternity pay for the same weeks counts towards it, so your employer tops up the difference. This does not apply if your contract gives at least one week more notice than the statutory minimum; then your contract decides notice pay.

Your employer may end your employment with a payment in lieu of notice instead, if your contract allows it or you agree.

Is redundancy pay taxed?

Statutory redundancy pay under £30,000 is not taxable. Notice pay, unpaid wages, holiday pay and your remaining SMP are taxed like wages. Holiday builds up during maternity leave, so any holiday you have not taken by the end of your employment should be paid in your final pay. See Annual leave on maternity leave.

If you think the redundancy is unfair

You can appeal by writing to your employer with your reasons. If you were selected because of your pregnancy or maternity leave, were not offered a suitable vacancy, or were not consulted properly, you may be able to claim at an employment tribunal. The Acas helpline and Citizens Advice give free advice.