Petition · past parliament · Department for Business and Trade
Raise the basic rate of SMP & MA to at least the level of National Minimum Wage
Rejected
21 signatures
What the petition asks
Urgently review and raise maternity pay to at least the national living wage or a % of salary.
Today, just over 10% of women benefit from occupational maternity pay. For most maternity leave means a substantial reduction in income to live on less than half of the National Living Wage, or 37% of UK women’s median weekly earnings.
The financial impact is huge, particularly where women are the highest household earners with nearly 3 in 5 surveyed by Maternity Action forced to return early for financial reasons something that has been shown to impact longer term health and wellbeing.
The financial impact is huge, particularly where women are the highest household earners with nearly 3 in 5 surveyed by Maternity Action forced to return early for financial reasons something that has been shown to impact longer term health and wellbeing.
Why it was rejected
There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.
You may wish to sign this petition which calls for a similar action: Change Statutory Maternity Pay to a percentage of weekly earnings with no cap
Timeline
| 26 Mar 2024 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 9 Apr 2024 | Rejected by the Petitions Committee |
Key facts
Signatures
21
Status
Rejected
Department
Department for Business and Trade
Rejected
9 Apr 2024
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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.