Top 12 UK companies with the best maternity leave benefits

Enhanced maternity leave can help you attract and retain the best talent. These 10 companies offer generous policies for your business to take inspiration from.

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For businesses, attracting and keeping hold of top talent often depends on the supportive workplace policies available to employees. When it comes to looking after and supporting new parents, Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is a legal necessity, but a growing number of job seekers are looking for more than just the minimum. 

Offering longer leave periods, enhanced maternity pay, and more inclusive eligibility criteria for parents are becoming powerful differentiators. And the more generous your policy, the more attractive your business becomes to talent. 

Deciding on the right approach isn’t always easy, though. To help you navigate these choices and inspire your own policies, we’ve rounded up some of the most generous maternity leave policies in the UK.

💡Key takeaways

  • NatWest Group has the best maternity leave, offering 24 weeks of full pay and equal partner leave based on local laws.
  • Generous parental leave helps small businesses compete with corporations in attracting and retaining employees.
  • Under the Neonatal Care Act 2023, parents get up to 12 weeks of paid leave if their baby needs neonatal care.
  • As of April 2025, UK employees are entitled to £187.18 per week in Statutory Maternity Pay.

1. NatWest Group

In line with its sturdy package of employee benefits, NatWest offers a very generous maternity policy for new parents. 

NatWest Group’s maternity policy in Great Britain and offshore is 24 weeks of full pay, then 15 weeks of statutory pay only. Then, during a 12-week phased return to work, mothers receive full pay regardless of the number of hours they work.

The company’s policy for Northern Ireland is slightly more generous, with 26 weeks of full pay followed by 13 weeks of statutory pay. 

In January 2023, NatWest Group raised the bar for parental support once again. They introduced a partner leave policy that aligns all partners’ parental leave allowance with maternity leave in their jurisdiction, making it much easier for parents to share childcare responsibilities.

The benefit has, unsurprisingly, gone down a blast with employees too, with Retail Banking worker John Fielding praising the shared parental leave for helping him spend more time with his new son Theo.  

2. Aviva

For mothers and fathers in the making, global insurance company Aviva offers 26 weeks of full pay for maternity, parental, and adoption leave, with statutory pay after this period for up to 12 months. 

To be eligible for this generous allowance, a staff member must have been working at Aviva for 26 weeks prior to the child’s due date or arrival date.

Long-term paid leave for fathers is particularly rare in the UK, but it is a great policy to implement at a business to help retain and entice talent, and make both mothers and fathers feel valued.

Interested in generous paternity leave too? Check out our list of the employers with the best paternity leave policies.

Did you know?

As of April 2025, employers are now required to provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave for parents of babies who are admitted to the hospital for neonatal care, due to the Neonatal Care Act, which was passed in 2023.

3. Vodafone

Vodafone provides any mother or father who’s having a baby, adopting a child, or becoming a parent through surrogacy up to 16 weeks of fully paid leave at any time during their first 18 months of becoming a parent. The company also allows mothers to take paid time off for antenatal care throughout their pregnancy. 

If a baby is born prematurely, staff are given the flexibility to adapt their leave to suit their needs. For parents who lose a child at any point from pregnancy to their 18th birthday, Vodafone offers two weeks of paid leave.

Getting back into the swing of things after childbirth can be difficult. To help workers transition back into the workplace smoothly, in March 2025, Vodafone also rolled out an 80/20 policy, which allows new parents to return to work for 80% of their hours, at 100% of their pay, benefits, and holiday, for the first six months following family-related leave. 

4. Google

Renowned for its glorious company perks, from free meals to on-site gyms, it’s no surprise that the tech company excels when it comes to supporting new parents too. 

Google offers enhanced maternity leave as well as a host of benefits when mothers return to work. Birthing parents get 24 weeks of full pay and, upon return, are offered flexible working arrangements, on-site lactation rooms, and back-up childcare.

Adoption leave is up to 26 weeks of fully paid leave for one parent, and there is 18 weeks’ fully paid allowance for baby bonding time for the other parent in both scenarios. Google’s medical insurance plan also covers the cost of four rounds of IVF for its employees, providing a lifeline for workers struggling to conceive naturally.

5. TfL

TfL is also committed to going the extra mile to ease the burden for new parents.

The public body gives employees 52 weeks of maternity leave in total, made up of 26 weeks of full pay, 13 weeks of statutory pay, and 13 weeks of unpaid leave. For mothers returning to work, those who previously worked full-time are eligible to apply for flexible working with reduced hours.

For those who sadly have a stillborn or miscarriage in the first 23 weeks of pregnancy, mothers and fathers are entitled to sick leave, while those who go through this at 24 weeks or later are eligible for maternity pay.

TfL’s paternity leave policy offers two weeks of full pay. Both parents are also entitled to 18 weeks of unpaid parental leave up until the child’s 18th birthday, with a maximum of four weeks taken in a year.

6. Etsy

Online marketplace Etsy has crafted a generous parental leave policy for all of its employees, giving 26 weeks of full pay for both mothers and fathers, including those becoming parents via adoption or surrogacy.

When returning to work, all Etsy offices have parent rooms primarily used by nursing mothers for pumping – however, they are gender neutral and also have changing tables for babies.

Read more: what is the motherhood penalty?

7. Monzo

Credit card service company Monzo is investing in its employees’ future, by offering them paid maternity, paternity, adoption or shared parental leave after they’ve worked at the company for 13 weeks.

The company offers 52 weeks of leave for mothers, made up of 26 weeks at 100% pay, 13 weeks at statutory maternity pay, and 13 weeks of unpaid leave. Fathers can also get 13 weeks of leave at 100% pay. Monzo also offers eight days of leave per year for fertility treatments.

All employees who go through pregnancy loss are given ten days of additional paid leave – and this includes colleagues who are partners or surrogate mothers.

Did you know?

The Statutory Maternity Pay rate has recently increased slightly to account for inflation. As of April 2025, UK employees are entitled to £187.18 per week, or 90% of their average weekly earnings. This is a slight jump from the previous weekly minimum of £181.18.

8. UK Civil Service

It turns out the UK Civil Service doesn’t just serve the public; it delivers some solid benefits for new parents too. 

In the UK’s Civil Service, mothers are entitled to 52 weeks of overall maternity leave – this is made up of 26 weeks of full pay, 13 weeks of statutory maternity pay, and then the remaining weeks are unpaid.

Despite only offering paternity pay at the statutory rate, the Civil Service does offer shared parental leave. The mother must take at least two weeks’ paid maternity leave, and can then convert the remaining untaken maternity leave and pay into shared parental leave, with pay in line with the above allowances. This means the dad takes the second part of the leave from work.

9. BT

As of January 2025, BT has really dialed up support for new parents. Both mothers and fathers working at BT can now take 18 weeks of leave on full pay after having a baby, then eight weeks on half pay and, after this, 26 weeks of pay at the statutory rate. This means they will receive some form of pay throughout 52 weeks of eligible leave.

This policy was designed to be inclusive of all family structures, giving BT a huge competitive advantage for modern families that are interested in splitting responsibilities evenly between caregivers.

Offering generous and equal leave like this enables both parents to adjust to their new life together – this level of leave is still rare in the UK, so it will be deemed as a valuable benefit for employees and potential new hires.

10. John Lewis

In 2021, John Lewis introduced a policy that makes all employees who have been at the company for a year eligible for 26 weeks of paid leave when they have a baby, regardless of gender, and how they became a parent. The 26 weeks consist of 14 weeks at full pay and 12 weeks at 50% pay.

Policies like these are inclusive of fathers, same-sex parents and those who became parents through adoption or surrogacy. Not only do they reflect modern family structures and promote equality in the workplace, but they also help the employer appeal to a much wider and more diverse pool of candidates.

Mothers who sadly miscarry are eligible for two weeks of leave with pay, and are also offered free counselling and mental health services.

11. Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs is another employer leading the pack when it comes to modern workplace policies. The investment bank has offered 26 weeks of paid parental leave to all new parents since 2019, regardless of gender or caregiver status.

However, while the policy itself is very progressive, the culture around its uptake still faces scrutiny. In 2024, a manager filed a £3.8 million sex-discrimination claim against the company, alleging he was unfairly dismissed for requesting six months of paternity leave.

While the claimant won the case, this lawsuit reveals that until a workplace culture truly normalises such leave for all genders, generous parental leave policies will only go so far.

12. Diageo

Major UK food and drink exporter Diageo is pouring out truly inclusive benefits to its employees, offering a total of 52 weeks’ paternity leave, with the first 26 weeks paid in full.

Like John Lewis, Diageo has been committed to shaking up traditional caregiving norms, extending the policy to any worker, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or how they became parents. 

On top of this offering, the company also offers a round of perks to help new parents adjust to returning to work, including new parental coaching, independent counselling, and flexible working options.

 Why should you offer enhanced maternity leave?

Generous maternity, paternity and shared parental leave allowances are a great way for small firms to compete with larger companies when it comes to attracting and retaining top talent. 

The transition to parenthood is tricky, and workers look to company policies to ease the financial burden and allow them to be present in the early days of their child’s life. 

As family structures continue to change over time, offering catch-all benefits that cater to fathers, same-sex parents, and mothers who can’t conceive naturally demonstrates a clear commitment to inclusion, making your company more desirable to a much wider pool of applicants.

When creating your own policies, be sure to involve your head of HR or HR team to ensure they work for both you as a business owner and your employees. Consider what your business can offer – as well as pay policies for this period, think about what post-birth benefits could be included in your allowance. 

This could include:

  • Shared parental leave
  • Generous pay and leave allowance
  • On-site parent rooms
  • Support with childcare
  • Inclusive policies for those becoming parents via surrogacy or adoption
  • Longer paternity leave

You don’t need to manage maternity and parental leave payments manually, either. The best HR and payroll software is capable of automatically calculating the amount of pay based on company policies, managing leave requests, and even ensuring the process is compliant with the latest regulations. 

Read more: Are you eligible for paternity leave after starting a new job?

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