{
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    "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": {
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  },
  "figure_id": "employment.leave.maternity_weeks",
  "name": "Statutory maternity leave: total weeks",
  "unit": "weeks",
  "value_type": "count",
  "source_type": "derived",
  "jurisdiction": "GB",
  "scope_note": "52 weeks of LEAVE, and only 39 of them carry Statutory Maternity Pay (`employment.smp.paid_leave_weeks`), so the last 13 are unpaid unless the contract says otherwise. The first two weeks after childbirth are compulsory (`employment.leave.compulsory_maternity_weeks`); regulation 7(5) ends the leave early on dismissal and regulation 7(2) can extend the ordinary period, so 52 is the ordinary whole rather than an invariable one. The limbs are `employment.leave.maternity.ordinary_weeks` and `employment.leave.maternity.additional_weeks`; this record is only their sum (D14), and the build refuses a build in which the three disagree. Shared parental leave is taken OUT of this 52, not added to it — see `employment.leave.spl.max_weeks`.",
  "current": {
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    "effective_from": "2003-04-06",
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        "citation": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2789/made (Maternity and Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2002 reg 8(a), substituting \"26 weeks\" for \"eighteen weeks\" in regulation 7(1) of the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999 — the ordinary maternity leave period, the first limb of this derivation)",
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        "citation": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2789/made (the same Regulations, reg 8(b), substituting \"26 weeks from the day on which it commenced\" in regulation 7(4) — the additional maternity leave period, the second limb; neither instrument states a total)",
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    "verified": {
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  "value_numeric": 52,
  "upcoming": null,
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    "record_url": "https://statbook.co.uk/v1/figures/employment.leave.maternity_weeks.json",
    "sources": [
      {
        "role": "legislation",
        "citation": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2789/made (Maternity and Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2002 reg 8(a), substituting \"26 weeks\" for \"eighteen weeks\" in regulation 7(1) of the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999 — the ordinary maternity leave period, the first limb of this derivation)",
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        "retrieved": "2026-09-11T00:15:55Z",
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      },
      {
        "role": "legislation",
        "citation": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2789/made (the same Regulations, reg 8(b), substituting \"26 weeks from the day on which it commenced\" in regulation 7(4) — the additional maternity leave period, the second limb; neither instrument states a total)",
        "uri": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2789/made#reg8b",
        "retrieved": "2026-09-11T00:15:55Z",
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    "verified": {
      "legislation": "2026-09-11T00:15:55Z"
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}