Compulsory maternity leave (weeks)

The weeks after childbirth during which an employer may not let a new mother work at all, the one part of maternity leave nobody can waive.

2weeks

Corroborated Statutory Instrument Great Britain in force since 2000-04-30

Checked against its sources: statute verified 2026-09-21·guidance verified 2026-07-29

Scope: Two weeks, and it binds the EMPLOYER: section 72 makes permitting the work an offence, so this is the one part of maternity leave that cannot be waived. Four weeks applies instead to a woman who works in a factory, under the Public Health Act 1936 s.205 and the factories legislation GOV.UK's guide mentions — a different enactment and a separate figure, not authored. This is the stated limb GOV.UK's familiar 50 weeks of shared parental leave is computed from: 52 less these two, published as the derived maximum Shared parental leave: maximum weeks (D-D14-5), never as a figure any document states. Regulation 12A(5) also excludes these two weeks from the keeping-in-touch days.

Current sources

Source A · Legislationhttps://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/3312/made (SI 1999/3312 reg 8 as made: "The prohibition in section 72 of the 1996 Act, against permitting an employee who satisfies prescribed conditions to work during a particular period (referred to as a 'compulsory maternity leave period'), applies- (a) in relation to an employee who is entitled to ordinary maternity leave, and (b) in respect of the period of two weeks which commences with the day on which childbirth occurs"; in force 15 December 1999, reg 1, Part II having effect only for employees whose expected week of childbirth begins on or after 30 April 2000, reg 3(1))

retrieved 2026-09-11

Source B · Official guidancehttps://www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave (under "Leave": "You do not have to take 52 weeks but you must take 2 weeks' leave after your baby is born (or 4 weeks if you work in a factory)")

retrieved 2026-07-29

History

Value	From	To	Status	Sources
2	2000-04-30	—	Corroborated	Legislation: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/3312/made (SI 1999/3312 reg 8 as made: "The prohibition in section 72 of the 1996 Act, against permitting an employee who satisfies prescribed conditions to work during a particular period (referred to as a 'compulsory maternity leave period'), applies- (a) in relation to an employee who is entitled to ordinary maternity leave, and (b) in respect of the period of two weeks which commences with the day on which childbirth occurs"; in force 15 December 1999, reg 1, Part II having effect only for employees whose expected week of childbirth begins on or after 30 April 2000, reg 3(1)) retrieved 2026-09-11 Official guidance: https://www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave (under "Leave": "You do not have to take 52 weeks but you must take 2 weeks' leave after your baby is born (or 4 weeks if you work in a factory)") retrieved 2026-07-29

Receipt

Everything above is reproducible and independently checkable — no trust in this site required (how verification works).

Figure ID: employment.leave.compulsory_maternity_weeks
Name in the API: Compulsory maternity leave: weeks
Record fields (source type · unit · jurisdiction · status): si·weeks·GB·corroborated
Record hash (canonical JSON, SHA-256): sha256:d13a47b931e4380d959163723c908727dde3a6184c6a4f783c5029709c4b0f15
Source snapshots (SHA-256): Legislation: sha256:3487776b83ad7f393327bb710863224f075f6c34ba2a7d4917f1f331fd5f113d; Official guidance: sha256:728dd9d923c0cc64dd79373a78cec6e2886c91437c3e1325de31dc123cbf49fd
Listed in the signed manifest: release 3.0.0 manifest · record_hashes["employment.leave.compulsory_maternity_weeks"]
Machine-readable record: /v1/figures/employment.leave.compulsory_maternity_weeks · current only: /v1/figures/employment.leave.compulsory_maternity_weeks/current

Compiler's notes

An SI carry (ADR-0014), and a HOST-STATES one: no textual amendment touches regulation 8, so the 1999 Regulations state the value by their own words and their as-made text is its own frozen witness — which is what the 09-09 inventory could not confirm, because the as-made document was not archived until the relay parked it overnight. Both documents are hashed into this record and the verdict recomputed at Gate 2. The locator carries regulation 8(b)'s own words because "two weeks" also stands in regulation 12A(5), which cross-refers to this very period; the probe locates at regulation-8-b, the deepest provision that states it.