Petition · past parliament

Raise Statutory Maternity Pay or Increase Employer Minimums

Closed 212 signatures

What the petition asks

In present times, women now earn just as much, or often more than men. Women are obtaining careers and working hard to keep them and to get remunerated for that accordingly. The current maternity pay of £139.58 per week is nowhere near enough to now allow a woman to stay at home on maternity.
Current maternity pay = £139.58 per week
Current employer minimum = 6 weeks @ 90% of pay, followed by SMP for the rest of the maternity leave. Maternity leave period also often leaves a portion at the end of the year that will be unpaid due to timing of the woman leaving work prior to having her child.

Timeline

18 Feb 2016 Petition opened for signatures
18 Aug 2016 Closed to new signatures

Key facts

Signatures 212
Status Closed
Opened 18 Feb 2016
Closed 18 Aug 2016

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.