Pension contributions on maternity leave usually continue while you are paid: your employer on the pay you would have had, you on the pay you get.

If you are expecting a baby and wondering what happens to your workplace pension, the answer depends on whether a given stretch of leave is paid. Paid weeks are treated one way, unpaid weeks another, and the final stretch of a full year off is different again. This guide goes week by week, then covers salary sacrifice, State Pension credits and other kinds of parental leave. Anyone who wants a payslip and contract talked through can have a no-cost phone call arranged with an FCA-authorised adviser business, set up from the form on this page.

Paid maternity leave: who pays in, and on what pay

GOV.UK’s workplace pensions guide sets out the basic rule for any paid leave: “you and your employer carry on making pension contributions.” Your share is worked out on what you are actually paid during the leave. Your employer’s share is worked out on the salary you would have received had you not been away.

Statutory Maternity Leave lasts 52 weeks, split into 26 weeks of Ordinary Maternity Leave and 26 of Additional Maternity Leave, while Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is paid for up to 39 weeks. So in a full year off, weeks 1 to 39 are the usual paid stretch. MoneyHelper’s week-by-week table shows the same split: your contributions “are based on your actual pay”, and your employer’s “are based on your pay before your leave, plus any pay increases while you’re away.” Some employers pay more than the statutory amount, and GOV.UK says a company scheme cannot offer less, so your employer’s maternity policy is worth reading.

A lower pay packet therefore means a smaller deduction from you, while the employer’s side is meant to be measured against your normal pay. The minimum percentages are set out in the workplace pension minimum guide, and which kinds of pay count is in how pension contributions are calculated.

Salary sacrifice works a little differently. MoneyHelper treats a sacrificed contribution as your employer’s, so on paid leave the whole contribution should continue, as long as that does not take your pay below the National Minimum Wage. The statutory pay itself is protected: HMRC’s guidance for employers rules out sacrificing any of it and requires it to be paid in full. Salary sacrifice during maternity leave has its own guide.

Unpaid weeks and Maternity Allowance

Not everyone gets SMP, and the last weeks of a full year off carry no statutory pay. GOV.UK says that if you are not paid, your employer still has to make contributions in the first 26 weeks (Ordinary Maternity Leave), and has to carry on afterwards only “if it’s in your contract.” MoneyHelper says the same applies to people on Maternity Allowance, which is paid by the government rather than the employer: employer contributions usually continue as normal for the first 26 weeks, then usually stop unless your scheme rules or contract say otherwise.

Your own payments are another matter. With no pay there is nothing to deduct from, and in MoneyHelper’s table your contributions “usually stop when your salary does”. GOV.UK adds that in unpaid periods you may be able to pay in yourself, and tells you to ask your employer or scheme provider. In a defined benefit scheme, paid leave usually continues to build up benefits but unpaid leave does not; in a defined contribution pot the effect is fewer pounds invested for those weeks. The value of investments can fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than was paid in, so what a gap in saving costs cannot be priced in advance.

For those who were paid, weeks 40 to 52 are where the money usually stops. The same guide explains that once leave becomes unpaid, all contributions normally stop, and that typically happens in those weeks because payments such as SMP finish at week 39 while the leave carries on. Whether anything continues then comes down to your scheme rules or employment contract. Matching that against your own papers is something to raise on the call you can arrange with the form on this page.

The law behind it: Equality Act 2010, section 75

For an occupational pension scheme in England, Wales and Scotland, the legal footing is section 75 of the Equality Act 2010. If a scheme does not include a “maternity equality rule”, it “is to be treated as including one.” The rule reaches scheme terms on three things: membership, the accrual of rights, and how the amount of a benefit is worked out. A term of that kind which treats time on maternity leave differently from time at work is modified so that the leave counts as time at work. The section does not require your own contributions to be set on anything other than what you are paid for that time, and being paid by the employer includes receiving SMP.

Unpaid weeks are covered more narrowly. For unpaid Ordinary Maternity Leave the section applies only where the expected week of childbirth began on or after 6 April 2003. For unpaid Additional Maternity Leave it does not apply to the accrual of rights at all, and applies for other purposes only where the expected week of childbirth began on or after 5 October 2008. The maternity paragraph of Schedule 5 to the Social Security Act 1989 was repealed by the Equality Act 2010, so section 75 is the one to look up. It is written for occupational schemes; for a workplace personal pension, the practical answer is what your employer and the provider confirm in writing.

Paternity, adoption and shared parental leave sit in paragraphs 5A to 5C of that Schedule, which remain in force. For scheme provisions on membership, accrual of rights and benefits worked out from earnings, a period of paid leave is to be treated as if the member worked normally and received the pay likely for doing so, while the member “shall only be required to pay contributions” on the contractual or statutory pay actually paid. Unpaid periods and sick pay are covered in the guide to contributions during sick pay and other leave.

Checking the contributions are right

The Pensions Regulator lists SMP, along with ordinary or additional statutory paternity pay and statutory adoption pay, among the pay an employer includes when working out the minimum contribution. It names miscalculating contributions for staff receiving maternity pay as one of the common errors it sees, and says calculations during statutory leave must comply with the equal treatment principle in equality and employment legislation. Who is enrolled in the first place, and when, is in the workplace pension rules guide; stopping or reducing payments is in the guide to pausing contributions.

MoneyHelper suggests always checking that contributions have been made correctly, because “mistakes are common”, for instance contributions based on reduced pay or stopping too early. Where an employer has used reduced pay, it suggests asking first for an extra payment to make up the difference; if that fails, it points to the HMRC Statutory Payment Dispute Team or a trade union, and to free help from Acas in England, Scotland and Wales.

State Pension: National Insurance credits during leave

A workplace pension and the State Pension run separately, and leave affects them differently. On GOV.UK’s National Insurance credits page, anyone on Maternity Allowance gets Class 1 credits automatically. For those on SMP, Adoption Pay or Shared Parental Pay who do not earn enough to make a qualifying year, the credits are applied for by writing to HMRC. Class 1 credits count towards the State Pension and may help with some other benefits.

Parents have a second route. A parent or guardian registered for Child Benefit for a child under 12, even if no Child Benefit is paid, gets Class 3 credits automatically, and these count towards the State Pension only. Credits from registering for Child Benefit can be transferred to a spouse or partner living with you if you have paid a year’s National Insurance contributions. How the State Pension is built overall is in the State Pension guide.

Maternity leave and pensions: questions people ask

Do employer pension contributions stop when I am on SMP?

Not normally. While you are paid, GOV.UK says contributions continue, with your employer paying on the salary you would have received. Check your scheme and policy for anything more generous.

Does Maternity Allowance affect employer contributions?

MoneyHelper says employer contributions usually continue as normal for the first 26 weeks for people on Maternity Allowance, since it is paid by the government rather than your employer. Your own contributions usually stop when your salary does.

Will my contributions be based on my full salary?

While you are on paid leave, your employer’s should be; yours are based on what you are paid. If a payslip shows both on reduced pay, ask the employer to check it.

Can I pay in myself during unpaid leave?

GOV.UK says you may be able to, so ask your employer or provider. Opting out is a separate decision with its own deadline.

Your next step

Your contract, scheme rules and company maternity policy decide the details, and the employer or provider can confirm them in writing. Fitting the leave around the rest of your pension saving is a job for that conversation; the call is requested by filling out the form on this page and carries no cost to you.

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