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Guidance Giving Information on the Rights for Pregnant Women

Babies due on or after 1 April 2007

This guidance covers the legislation around working during pregnancy, maternity leave, maternity pay, and return to work. The rules which have changed are:

• all employed women are entitled to additional maternity leave (see Maternity Leave section);
• the payment period for statutory maternity pay and maternity allowance has been extended to 39 weeks (see Statutory Maternity Pay section);
• the notice a woman must give if she is changing her date of return from maternity leave has been increased from 28 days to 8 weeks (see Keeping in Touch section);
• optional keeping in touch days have been introduced enabling a woman to work for up to 10 days during her maternity leave period (see Keeping in Touch section);
• we have clarified that all women have a right to return to work after maternity leave regardless of the size of the employer (see Return to Work section).