Looking at the first 6 months immediately after maternity ends, on average, around 82% of maternity benefit recipients return to their employer.
In 2021, 85.1% returned to their employer, up from 81.8% in 2020.
In 2021, 96% of employees in Public Administration & Defence returned to work after maternity leave while only 66% of those in Accommodation & Food Service Activities returned.
Generally, across all sectors, the proportion of maternity recipients that return to work for their pre-maternity employer has risen year on year except in the Public Administration & Defence and Education sectors where it has remained flat, with little or no change from year to year.
Maternities that started in 2019 and 2020 were likely to have been impacted by COVID-19 which is evident in the data for sectors such as Accommodation & Food Service Activities where the proportion that returned to work has risen substantially for those starting maternity in 2021.
For maternities that started in 2021, 92% of those working in large enterprises returned to work for the same employer compared to 68% in micro enterprises for the same year.
Micro enterprises tended to have been impacted by COVID-19 to a larger degree as seen in the significantly lower proportions returning to work for those maternities that started in 2019 and 2020.
Year on year, for those that return to work for the same employer, approximately 50% return within the first 10 weeks after the last maternity payment. Between 11 and 15 weeks after the last maternity payment an additional 2% return to work every week. From 16 and 19 weeks after the last maternity payment the number of returnees rises again to between 3 and 4% per week. This gives an indication of the number of mothers that elect to take the unpaid maternity leave of 16 weeks before returning to work, and those that take unpaid leave followed by parent’s leave and then return to work. For the cohorts that started maternity in 2020 and 2021 there is a noticeable spread in the numbers that return to work between week 20 and 26 compared to those that started in 2019. This is likely due to the increase in parent’s benefit from 2 to 5 weeks in 2021 as well as extending the qualifying leave period to the child’s first 2 years.
| Weeks | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 12.7 | 12.8 | 14.9 |
| 7 | 11 | 11 | 12.4 |
| 8 | 11 | 12.4 | 13.4 |
| 9 | 11.3 | 11.4 | 12.2 |
| 10 | 5.5 | 5.3 | 5.6 |
| 11 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 2.9 |
| 12 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 |
| 13 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 2.2 |
| 14 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.1 |
| 15 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 2.1 |
| 16 | 3.8 | 3.2 | 2.9 |
| 17 | 4.5 | 3.6 | 3.3 |
| 18 | 4.2 | 3.6 | 3.3 |
| 19 | 3.4 | 3.1 | 2.7 |
| 20 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 1.3 |
| 21 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 1.5 |
| 22 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 1.5 |
| 23 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 1.6 |
| 24 | 0.4 | 1 | 1.3 |
| 25 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.8 |
| 26 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.6 |
| 27 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| 28 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| 29 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| 30 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| 31 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| 32 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| 33 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| 34 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| 35 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| 36 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| 37 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| 38 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| 39 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| 40 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| 41 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| 42 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| 43 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| 44 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 |
| 45 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| 46 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| 47 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| 48 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| 49 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| 50 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| 51 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| 52 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 |
While 82% returned to their employer just after maternity not all of those remained in employment. Looking at the employment status 12 months after maternity ended, for those that started maternity in 2020, 66.3% remained in employment with the same employer, 13.1% had ceased work, 17.6% were working for a new employer and 2.9% were on another maternity.
For maternities that started in 2020, employees in Public Administration & Defence were most likely to stay with 82.6% remaining with the same employer. Employees in Accommodation & Food Service Activities were least likely to remain with less than 41.6% still with the same employer for the same year.
| Sector | Returned to work - Same employer | Returned to work - New employer | Further maternity leave | Not in employment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Administration and Defence (O) | 82.6 | 9.7 | 3.7 | 4 |
| Education (P) | 78.8 | 11.7 | 4.1 | 5.3 |
| Information and Communication (J) | 68.6 | 19.3 | 2 | 10.2 |
| Financial and Real Estate (K-L) | 69.1 | 17.7 | 2.7 | 10.6 |
| Industry (B-E) | 74.1 | 12.1 | 2.8 | 11 |
| Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities (M) | 65.5 | 20.2 | 2.6 | 11.7 |
| Human Health and Social Work Activities (Q) | 62.4 | 21.8 | 3.3 | 12.5 |
| Construction (F) | 62.9 | 20.6 | 2.3 | 14.3 |
| Transportation and Storage (H) | 62.1 | 20.6 | 1.9 | 15.4 |
| Wholesale and Retail Trade (G) | 56.8 | 20.5 | 2.4 | 20.4 |
| Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (A) | 58.1 | 14 | 4.4 | 23.5 |
| Other NACE Activities (R-U) | 53.2 | 20 | 1.9 | 25 |
| Administrative and Support Service Activities (N) | 46.8 | 26 | 2 | 25.2 |
| Accommodation and Food Service Activities (I) | 41.6 | 25 | 1.6 | 31.7 |
For maternities starting in 2020, employees in enterprises with 250 or more employees were most likely to remain with the same employer post maternity, at 76.1%. In the same year, only 47% of those working in micro enterprises remained with the same employer.
For maternities that started in 2021, of those that returned to their previous employment, 64% were on pay levels that were approximately equal to their pre-maternity pay while 36% were on less than the pre-maternity level.
It should be noted that there is no visibility of the total hours being worked in the pay data analysed and the lower pay levels are very likely to reflect that many choose to work part time or on reduced hours compared to their pre-maternity employment conditions. Other factors which were not visible within the data such as unpaid parental leave may also have resulted in the lower pay levels.
Looking across economic sectors for the maternities starting in 2021, 75% of employees in Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing returned to work with similar pay levels as pre-maternity. Employees in Human Health & Social Work Activities were most likely to have lower pay than pre-maternity levels at 40% for the same year. This may indicate a higher potential to have part time work or reduced working hours post-maternity in this sector compared to others.
| Sector | Less than full pre-maternity pay | Full Pay |
|---|---|---|
| Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (A) | 25.5 | 74.5 |
| Construction (F) | 26.1 | 73.9 |
| Transportation and Storage (H) | 29.5 | 70.5 |
| Public Administration and Defence (O) | 32.6 | 67.4 |
| Accommodation & Food Service Activities (I) | 32.7 | 67.3 |
| Industry (B to E) | 33.8 | 66.2 |
| Education (P) | 35.3 | 64.7 |
| Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities (M) | 35.4 | 64.6 |
| Administrative and Support Service Activities (N) | 36.3 | 63.7 |
| Information and communication (J) | 36.9 | 63.1 |
| Financial & Real Estate (K,L) | 38.3 | 61.7 |
| Other NACE Activities (R - U) | 39.1 | 60.9 |
| Wholesale and Retail Trade (G) | 39.6 | 60.4 |
| Human Health and Social Work Activities (Q) | 39.6 | 60.4 |
For maternities starting in 2021, 67% of employees in micro-enterprises returned to work with similar pay to pre-maternity levels. Those in large enterprises were most likely to return on lower pay at 37% which, again, may indicate that larger enterprises have a higher potential for offering part time working conditions post-maternity.
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