Maternity pay for council staff under the Green Book

Under the Green Book, a council employee with a year’s continuous local government service gets nine-tenths of a week’s pay for the first six weeks of maternity leave, then half a week’s pay plus Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) for the next twelve weeks, then SMP alone until the 39 weeks of SMP run out. With less than a year’s service you get SMP only. Many councils pay more than this national minimum, so your own policy is the first thing to read.

Who qualifies

The occupational scheme applies to all pregnant employees, whatever their weekly hours. The enhancement depends on service. The Green Book counts one year of continuous local government service at the 11th week before the expected week of childbirth. Under a year, you receive the SMP you are eligible for and nothing more from the scheme.

Continuous service includes earlier service with councils and other public authorities covered by the 1999 continuity order. A break for maternity or caring reasons can be bridged too. Earlier service still counts for the maternity scheme if the break was no more than eight years and you took no permanent full-time job in between. The annual leave guide covers the same service rules.

SMP itself has its own tests. GOV.UK says SMP is paid for up to 39 weeks: 90% of average weekly earnings for the first six weeks, then £194.32 or 90% of average weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for the next 33 weeks. See maternity leave and pay for the statutory rules.

The pay, week by week

Weeks of leave	Pay under the Green Book scheme (one year’s service)
1 to 6	Nine-tenths of a week’s pay, offset against SMP
7 to 18	Half a week’s pay plus SMP, if you have said in writing you intend to return
19 to 39	SMP
40 to 52	Unpaid, unless your employer offers more

In the half-pay weeks, your pay and SMP together cannot go above full pay. If they would, the council reduces its half pay so you receive full pay and no more. The scheme also allows the equivalent amount, which is six weeks’ pay, to be paid in another way you agree with the council, such as spread across the leave.

If you do not intend to return, you receive SMP after the first six weeks and no half-pay element.

A 2025 report to Belfast City Council describes this pattern as the current Green Book arrangement, and says the other Northern Ireland councils it compared them with offer the same. The report also notes that SMP is not reduced for part-time hours, so a part-time or lower-paid employee can end up close to full pay in the half-pay weeks.

The three-month return condition

The half-pay payments come with a condition. The Green Book says they are made on the understanding that you will return to local authority employment for at least three months. The council can vary that if you show good cause. If you do not return, you may have to repay the enhanced payments, or part of them, as the council decides. SMP is not refundable.

If you are unsure you will come back, ask HR early how your council applies the repayment rule and whether it has a written policy.

Notice, leave dates and your job

You tell the council at least 28 days before your absence starts, or as soon as reasonably practicable, that you are pregnant, your expected week of childbirth and when you want to start. The council can ask for this in writing, with a certificate from a doctor or midwife. Pregnant employees are entitled to paid time off for antenatal care. Maternity leave itself is up to 52 weeks.

On your return the Green Book gives you the right to the same job on terms no less favourable. If redundancy makes that impracticable, you are entitled to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy where one exists.

A partner or nominated carer is separately entitled to five days’ paid maternity support leave around the time of the birth under the same agreement. For other family leave see the paternity leave and shared parental leave guides.

What to check

• The council’s own maternity policy, which may improve on every figure above.
• Your service date, and whether earlier local government service has been counted.
• When to put your intention to return in writing, since the half-pay weeks depend on it.
• The repayment terms if you decide not to return.
• How allowances in your normal pay are treated while you are on leave. Belfast’s report says it keeps paying them during the half-pay weeks, but each council decides.

The percentages are worked out from the pay at your spine point, and the NJC pay award 2026/27 page shows where that stands. If you disagree about what you are owed, ask HR, your union or ACAS.