An employee returning from maternity leave should not arrive to discover that their role, hours or reporting line have been improvised while they were away. The employer needs a dated return plan: confirm when leave ends, identify the job the employee is entitled to resume, update pay and benefits, consider flexible working, complete any required health and safety assessment, and keep redundancy decisions separate from assumptions about family life. For a small employer, one structured conversation before the return can prevent several avoidable disputes.
Confirm the return date before arranging cover
Statutory Maternity Leave lasts up to 52 weeks: 26 weeks of Ordinary Maternity Leave followed by 26 weeks of Additional Maternity Leave. Unless the employee has given a different date, the employer should work from the expected end date already confirmed in writing. An employee who wants to return earlier or later than planned must normally give at least eight weeks' written notice.
A useful return letter confirms the last day of maternity leave, the first working day, the contractual hours and work location, any annual leave being taken before the physical return, and the manager responsible for the handover. Do not assume that the first day back is simply 52 weeks after the birth: leave may have started early, ended early or been followed by another agreed absence.
Discussing dates is not permission to pressure someone into an earlier return. Keeping-in-touch days are voluntary and do not change the employee's underlying return date. If they were used, record the work and pay separately rather than treating them as a phased return by default.
GOV.UK: maternity leave and changing the return date ↗ · Related guide: keeping in touch days →
Identify the job the employee has the right to resume
After 26 weeks or less of maternity leave, the employee normally has the right to return to the same job. After more than 26 weeks, the starting point is still the same job. Only where there is a genuine reason why that is not reasonably practicable may the employer offer a suitable alternative role.
A replacement performing well, a reallocated customer list or a manager preferring the temporary structure is not enough by itself. Acas states that the alternative must be suitable and appropriate and cannot be worse than the previous job. Compare pay, benefits, holiday, location, seniority, status, duties and prospects—not just the job title.
For example, a Gateshead business cannot return a supervisor to a lower-status coordinator role merely because the maternity cover has settled into the supervisor post. If a genuine reorganisation means the original job no longer exists, document the business change, why return to that job is not practicable and why any proposed alternative is genuinely suitable.
Reconcile pay, terms, holiday and workplace changes
Contractual terms continue during maternity leave except normal remuneration, and employees are entitled to pay rises and improvements awarded during leave. Holiday continues to accrue. Before the return, payroll and the manager should check the current salary, pension position, bonus or commission rules, benefits, accrued holiday and any across-the-board changes that affected comparable staff.
The employee should also receive the information needed to re-enter the workplace: structural changes, new systems, revised procedures, relevant vacancies and training. A concise re-induction is useful after a long absence. It should restore access and competence, not test whether the employee still deserves their role.
Do not quietly reduce responsibilities because the employee is now a parent. Pregnancy and maternity protections cover discrimination, detriment, automatic unfair dismissal and unfair redundancy. Decisions about opportunities, accounts, travel or development should be based on evidence and discussed with the employee, not on assumptions about childcare or commitment.
Resolve the employment position before day one back.
HR + SAFETY can review the leave record, proposed role and return arrangements, then give managers a clear action plan.
Discuss a maternity returnComplete the safety and breastfeeding arrangements that apply
Health and safety duties do not end when maternity leave does. HSE says employers must carry out an individual risk assessment when informed in writing that a worker is breastfeeding or has given birth in the previous six months. Review the actual job, hours, workplace and any medical recommendations, then record and share the findings.
If a significant risk cannot be adequately controlled, the sequence is to adjust conditions or hours, offer suitable alternative work on the same terms where appropriate, and only then suspend on paid leave for as long as necessary. This can matter in manufacturing, laboratories, healthcare, cleaning and other work involving chemicals, radiation, infection, heavy physical demands or night work.
Employers must provide a suitable area where pregnant workers and breastfeeding mothers can rest. HSE says it should be hygienic and private for expressing milk if the worker chooses; a toilet is not suitable. Consider access to refrigeration, reasonable timing and privacy as practical arrangements. Continue the individual assessment for as long as breastfeeding-related risks remain relevant.
HSE: risk assessment for pregnant workers and new mothers ↗ · HSE: rest and breastfeeding at work ↗
Handle flexibility and redundancy as separate legal decisions
An employee may make a statutory flexible working request, including for different hours, days or location. Deal with that through the statutory process and assess the requested arrangement against the recognised business reasons. The fact that the request follows maternity leave does not make it automatic, but refusing it carelessly may create discrimination risk as well as a flexible-working dispute.
Redundancy is also a separate process. The protected period for pregnancy and maternity begins when the employee tells the employer they are pregnant and normally ends 18 months after the exact date of birth. During that period, if the employee's role is genuinely redundant and a suitable alternative vacancy exists, it must be offered as a priority. This is stronger than merely allowing the employee to apply or interview.
The protection is not a ban on genuine redundancy. Employers still need a real redundancy situation, fair consultation and selection, and a search for suitable alternatives. Do not use the end of maternity cover as the trigger for a pre-decided dismissal, and do not confuse the right to return with the separate priority right to a suitable vacancy.
Acas: redundancy protection for pregnancy and new parents ↗ · Related guide: flexible working requests →
Maternity return checklist for employers
Legal requirements and official guidance were checked on 14 October 2026. This guide covers the current framework in England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has a separate statutory framework, and employers should take case-specific advice where maternity leave overlaps other statutory leave, sickness, disability, redundancy or a contractual enhanced-pay repayment clause.
- Check the confirmed maternity leave end date and any valid eight-week change notice.
- Record annual leave or other absence that follows maternity leave.
- Identify whether the employee returns after 26 weeks or less, or after additional leave.
- Confirm the same job, or document the genuine reason and suitable terms for any alternative.
- Update salary, benefits, holiday, systems access, reporting lines and relevant training.
- Arrange a focused re-induction and communicate material workplace changes.
- Invite any flexible working request into the proper process; do not decide it informally.
- Complete and share an individual risk assessment where the written notification test applies.
- Provide suitable rest, privacy and breastfeeding arrangements where needed.
- Check the 18-month redundancy protected period before any restructure or vacancy decision.
- Keep notes of the return discussion, agreed actions, owners and review dates.
Treat the return as a short management project: confirm the date, restore the correct job and terms, assess any health and safety needs, respond lawfully to flexibility and check redundancy protection before making structural decisions.
This guide provides general information for UK employers. It is not legal advice and should not replace advice based on the facts of a specific matter.