An employer is not permitted to allow an employee to return to work for a period of two weeks after giving birth, starting with the date their baby is born. This is known as compulsory maternity leave.

If an employee works in a factory, they will not be able to return to work for four weeks after giving birth.

After that, it is up to the employee to decide when they want to return to work, but if they decide to return to work early (before taking their full 52 weeks of leave) they must give the employer at least eight weeks’ notice of their plan to do this.

Employees must give the same eight weeks’ notice if they decide to end their maternity leave early so that their partner can take Shared Parental Leave.