{
  "meta": {
    "schema": "statbook-api/1",
    "release_version": "3.0.0",
    "compiled_at": "2026-09-21T00:00:00Z",
    "generated_at": "2026-09-28T09:07:46Z",
    "attribution": [
      "© Crown and database right. Derived from content available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 from legislation.gov.uk.",
      "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0."
    ],
    "docs": "https://statbook.co.uk/docs/",
    "signing": {
      "scheme": "minisign",
      "public_key": "RWSPzbJEmAXVEvTqYZ8O9iHuOcOUii5lCNZM5t9bdoQh4ZnwKsxk/+bd",
      "key_id": "12D5059844B2CD8F",
      "verify": "https://statbook.co.uk/assurance/#verify"
    }
  },
  "figure": {
    "id": "employment.leave.compulsory_maternity_weeks",
    "name": "Compulsory maternity leave: weeks",
    "category": "employment",
    "jurisdiction": "GB",
    "unit": "weeks",
    "value_type": "count",
    "currency": null,
    "cadence": null,
    "source_type": "si",
    "si_probe": {
      "verdict": "SI-HOLDS",
      "provision": "regulation-8-b",
      "probed": "2026-09-11",
      "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/3312/data.xml",
      "content_hash": "sha256:b5590a58c80ac8b0a71959b2b2d4352f6838d3109a1216c3175c5a883be8ad38",
      "setter": "uksi/1999/3312",
      "setter_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/3312/made/data.xml",
      "setter_hash": "sha256:3487776b83ad7f393327bb710863224f075f6c34ba2a7d4917f1f331fd5f113d",
      "setter_provision": "regulation-8-b",
      "f_note": null,
      "tokens": [
        "in respect of the period of two weeks which commences with the day on which childbirth occurs"
      ],
      "commentaries_c": [
        "key-01335309953a4a4dbd18999f47a98baa"
      ],
      "expires": null
    },
    "values": [
      {
        "value": 2,
        "value_minor": null,
        "effective_from": "2000-04-30",
        "effective_to": null,
        "announcement_date": null,
        "enacted_date": null,
        "instrument_made": true,
        "terminal_kind": null,
        "status": "corroborated",
        "sources": [
          {
            "role": "legislation",
            "citation": "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))",
            "uri": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/3312/made",
            "retrieved": "2026-09-11T00:15:43Z",
            "content_hash": "sha256:3487776b83ad7f393327bb710863224f075f6c34ba2a7d4917f1f331fd5f113d",
            "content_hash_of": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/3312/made/data.xml"
          },
          {
            "role": "guidance",
            "citation": "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)\")",
            "uri": "https://www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave",
            "retrieved": "2026-07-29T15:05:08Z",
            "content_hash": "sha256:728dd9d923c0cc64dd79373a78cec6e2886c91437c3e1325de31dc123cbf49fd"
          }
        ],
        "verified": {
          "guidance": "2026-07-29T15:05:08Z",
          "legislation": "2026-09-21T10:07:35Z"
        },
        "last_verified": "2026-07-29T15:05:08Z"
      }
    ],
    "derivation": null,
    "invariants": [],
    "lineage": [],
    "definitions": [
      {
        "from": null,
        "to": null,
        "text": "The compulsory maternity leave period: the two weeks beginning with the day childbirth occurs, during which an employer may not permit an employee entitled to ordinary maternity leave to work (regulation 8 of the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999, prescribing the period for the prohibition in Employment Rights Act 1996 s.72). A prohibition on the employer, not an entitlement of the employee.",
        "instrument": "Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999 reg 8"
      }
    ],
    "applicability": {
      "basis": "event_date",
      "note": "Runs from the day of childbirth itself, so it attaches to the birth rather than to a tax year or a pay period, and no notice or qualification can shorten it. The Regulations came into force on 15 December 1999 (reg 1), but regulation 3(1) gives the provisions of Part II — which contains regulation 8 — effect \"only in relation to employees whose expected week of childbirth begins on or after 30th April 2000\", which is the date this record carries, because no compulsory period under this regulation could run before it.",
      "article": "Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999 regs 1, 3(1), 8; Employment Rights Act 1996 s.72"
    },
    "scope_note": "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 `employment.leave.spl.max_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.",
    "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.",
    "record_version": 3
  },
  "receipt": {
    "record_hash": "sha256:d13a47b931e4380d959163723c908727dde3a6184c6a4f783c5029709c4b0f15",
    "record_hash_of": "the `figure` object, serialized as UTF-8 JSON with 2-space indent, ensure_ascii=false and a trailing newline",
    "release_version": "3.0.0",
    "manifest": "https://statbook.co.uk/v1/releases/3.0.0/manifest.json",
    "record_url": "https://statbook.co.uk/v1/figures/employment.leave.compulsory_maternity_weeks.json",
    "sources": [
      {
        "role": "legislation",
        "citation": "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))",
        "uri": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/3312/made",
        "retrieved": "2026-09-11T00:15:43Z",
        "content_hash": "sha256:3487776b83ad7f393327bb710863224f075f6c34ba2a7d4917f1f331fd5f113d",
        "content_hash_of": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/3312/made/data.xml"
      },
      {
        "role": "guidance",
        "citation": "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)\")",
        "uri": "https://www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave",
        "retrieved": "2026-07-29T15:05:08Z",
        "content_hash": "sha256:728dd9d923c0cc64dd79373a78cec6e2886c91437c3e1325de31dc123cbf49fd"
      }
    ],
    "verified": {
      "guidance": "2026-07-29T15:05:08Z",
      "legislation": "2026-09-21T10:07:35Z"
    },
    "last_verified": "2026-07-29T15:05:08Z"
  }
}