NHS pension on maternity leave: if you are an active member when leave starts, membership continues and your contributions follow the pay you receive.

The NHS Pension Scheme treats maternity leave as a protected kind of absence, but whether the weeks build pension depends on whether contributions are paid for them. Since 1 April 2022 every active member in England and Wales has been in the 2015 Scheme, so the rules below apply even if you also have 1995 or 2008 Section benefits; Scotland and Northern Ireland come at the end. Your employer or NHS Pensions can confirm the detail; an FCA-authorised adviser can then help you weigh it, so try the form on this page if that sounds useful.

Is my NHS pension membership kept while I am off?

It does if you are an active member on the day leave starts. NHS Pensions’ guidance says you “continue to contribute” through maternity, paternity, adoption and other parental absence, and that anyone who is not already an active member cannot join the scheme during such an absence. Regulation 21 of the 2015 Scheme Regulations lists maternity leave among the absences that can count towards your service.

Your employer keeps paying too. NHS Pensions says that where you continue to pay contributions, your employer’s contributions are payable on your full rate of pay, not the lower amount you may be receiving. The employer side is covered on what the NHS pays into your pension.

Which pay are NHS pension contributions based on during paid leave?

Your own contributions follow the pay you actually receive. NHS Pensions puts it this way: “Your contributions payable during your leave will be based on the pay you receive. This includes full pay, half pay or statutory maternity pay.” So a lower pay packet means a lower deduction, and the tier you sit in is explained on NHS pension contribution rates.

The regulations add a protective rule. Regulation 28(3) says “Amounts equal to the pensionable earnings that M would have received but for the absence are treated as having been paid to M.” Regulation 28(5) and (6) then treat the reduced pay as your pensionable earnings for the earnings and contribution rules in regulations 27 to 31, which is why the deduction falls. How the two rules show up in the pension recorded for those months is something NHS Pensions or your employer’s pensions team can confirm from your own record.

The general rules for any employer’s scheme, including statutory maternity pay, are on pension contributions on maternity leave, and sacrificing pay is on salary sacrifice during maternity leave. Those pages are about the law and workplace pensions generally; the NHS scheme has rules of its own, as above.

Can I keep my NHS pension going on unpaid maternity leave?

Yes, but this is where care is needed. NHS Pensions says “For periods of unpaid leave, contributions continue to be payable at the same rate that applied immediately before the unpaid leave commenced.” The regulations split this in two. Where unpaid weeks follow paid maternity leave, paragraph (7)(b) of regulation 28 treats the nil pay as the reduced amount paid during the paid part of your leave, not your full salary. Only where leave is unpaid from the first day are earnings “treated as if they were the amount equal to the rate of M’s pensionable earnings immediately before the period of absence” (regulation 28(7A)).

If contributions fall behind, NHS Pensions says you can arrange to pay them back on your return to work, set up through your NHS employer, and that it expects the arrears to be paid back within “a reasonable amount of time.” Stopping altogether has a cost: you build no further membership or benefits, and you are “treated the same as if you had left NHS employment on the date your contributions stopped.” Regulation 28(13) adds that a member who fails to pay contributions due for the absence is treated as having left pensionable employment, though nothing is refunded until the member actually leaves.

How and over what period the arrears come out of your pay is settled with your NHS employer. Stuck on what to put to your employer? An adviser, reached by the form on this page, can help you frame it.

Does maternity leave count as membership?

Regulation 21(2) answers directly: “The period of absence counts as pensionable service if M contributes to this scheme under regulation 30 or 31 in respect of the period of absence.” Pensionable service feeds into qualifying service, the measure that decides who is entitled to a deferred pension, so paid-for weeks help you reach it; the test is explained on how many years of service the NHS pension needs. Weeks for which contributions are not paid do not count, and a member who does not return is treated as leaving when contributions stop (see what happens if you leave the NHS).

Other unpaid leave, such as a career break, follows different limits. Regulation 21(3) to (6) allows up to 6 months to count if you pay member contributions at your usual intervals, then up to 18 further months if you pay employer contributions as well. That route is for leave outside the maternity and similar absences listed at the start of regulation 21. Sick leave is a separate topic: see employer pension contributions during sick leave. If you are considering stopping contributions for good, opting out of the NHS pension sets out the effects.

Do Scotland and Northern Ireland follow the same maternity rules?

These are separate schemes. The Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) runs the NHS Pension Scheme in Scotland; its guidance says contributions on paid maternity leave “will be based on your actual pensionable pay which will be either full pay or Statutory Maternity Pay.” On unpaid leave it says “it’s not compulsory to pay scheme contributions”, and you can choose to make arrangements with your employer before unpaid leave begins to pay the arrears on return. Those arrears are based on your pensionable pay immediately before the leave, and “If the contribution arrears are not paid then you won’t accrue pension for this period.” SPPA also says keeping-in-touch days are pensionable. The Scottish 2015 regulations carry the same regulation 21 wording on absence.

Northern Ireland’s HSC Pension Scheme has its own 2015 regulations, and its regulation 21 lists maternity leave in the same way. For how unpaid maternity weeks are handled there, ask your HSC employer or the HSC Pension Service rather than NHS Pensions. The differences between nations are on how the Scottish and Welsh NHS schemes differ.

Maternity leave and the NHS pension: your questions

What if I had opted out before my leave?

NHS Pensions says a member who is not active cannot join during a period of absence such as parental leave. Rejoining once you are back at work is covered on opting out of the NHS pension.

Are keeping-in-touch days pensionable?

SPPA says keeping-in-touch days are pensionable, with contributions on the pay you receive for them. For NHS Pensions in England and Wales, ask your employer how those days are recorded.

What if I decide not to come back?

SPPA says your last day of scheme membership is the last day you pay contributions, and the pension already built is preserved. In England and Wales, the effect of stopping is the leaving treatment above.

Does this apply to locum doctors or bank staff?

NHS Pensions says parental leave arrangements do not apply to locum practitioners. Bank staff who receive maternity pay can pay pension contributions; check your contract with your employer.

Is it worth paying for unpaid weeks?

That depends on your pay, section and plans. An adviser phoning back once you post the form on this page could talk through how it sits with your other money.

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