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Maternity leave notice to your employer (Northern Ireland)
Northern Ireland · in English · for employees
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For a pregnant employee in Northern Ireland: the written notice of your pregnancy, the expected week of childbirth, the date you want your maternity leave to start and the date for Statutory Maternity Pay, given by the end of the 15th week before the expected week, with your MAT B1 certificate enclosed or to follow. It asks your employer to confirm in writing, within 28 days, when your leave ends and what you will be paid. nidirect explains maternity pay and leave free. Hand it in and email it.
- Made for use in Northern Ireland
- Last updated October 29, 2026
- Document in English
Where a UK document reproduces the words of legislation or of a government publication — UK, Scottish or Northern Irish — it contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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When to use this document
- You are pregnant and need to tell your employer in Northern Ireland when your leave starts.
- Your midwife has given you the maternity certificate and you want to tell your employer formally.
- The deadline to tell your employer about the pregnancy and your leave is coming up.
- You want a written maternity leave notice with the dates and the maternity pay.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Employee
- Employee's address
- Town or city
- Employee's postcode
- Date
- Person at your employer you are writing to, as you would greet them (e.g. Priya Patel)
- Employer
- Employer's postal address (street and number, postcode and town on separate lines)
- Expected week of childbirth: the Sunday it begins (as on the MAT B1)
- Date your maternity leave starts
- Date you want Statutory Maternity Pay to start (usually the same)
- Anything else you want to add (optional)
Common questions
- By when must I tell an employer in Northern Ireland about my pregnancy and maternity leave?
- By the end of the 15th week before your expected week of childbirth — around 25 weeks into the pregnancy — or as soon as you reasonably can if that is not possible. Tell them the expected week and the date you want your leave to start; leave can start from the 11th week before the expected week. Your midwife or doctor issues the MAT B1 certificate from about 20 weeks before. nidirect's free maternity pages explain the dates.
- How much maternity leave and pay is there in Northern Ireland?
- Up to 52 weeks of maternity leave, from your first day in the job. Statutory Maternity Pay lasts up to 39 weeks: 90% of your average weekly earnings for the first six weeks, then £194.32 a week or 90% if that is lower (rates from April 2026). It needs 26 weeks' service by the 15th week before the expected week and earnings at least at the lower earnings limit; if you do not qualify, you may claim Maternity Allowance from the Department for Communities.
- What must an employer in Northern Ireland do once I have given notice of maternity leave?
- Write to you within 28 days with the date your maternity leave ends, and confirm your Statutory Maternity Pay. While pregnant you are entitled to paid time off for antenatal care, and you must not be treated unfavourably because of the pregnancy or the leave. You can change the start date on 28 days' notice; to come back before the end of the leave, give eight weeks' notice of your return date.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
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