Paternity vs maternity vs shared parental

Use this page when you are deciding the route, not when you already know which statutory pay page you need.

A quick comparison page to help users identify whether they mainly need paternity guidance, maternity guidance later, or Shared Parental Leave signposting.

What this page covers

High-level differences between paternity, maternity, and shared parental routes.

What this page does not cover

Detailed eligibility for every adoption or surrogacy scenario, or a full maternity/shared-pay calculator yet.

Maternity first

Use maternity when the question is longer leave, the 39-week pay structure, and the qualifying week.

Paternity first

Use paternity when the question is short leave and the 1 or 2 week statutory-pay route.

Shared parental first

Use shared parental when the real question is how parents want to split leave and pay after the birth or placement.

Which route sounds most like your situation?

If the main question is a longer maternity leave and up to 39 weeks of pay, start with maternity. If it is 1 or 2 weeks of leave and a short statutory-pay question, start with paternity. If the real question is about sharing leave and pay between parents, start with the shared-parental route.

What if the statutory pay page says no?

Do not assume that means no support is available. The next useful route may be Maternity Allowance, a paternity eligibility timing check, or Shared Parental Leave planning instead.

Open next-step page

Paternity

Best when the immediate question is 1 or 2 weeks of leave and the weekly paternity-pay rate.

Use paternity calculator

Maternity

Best when the question is much longer leave, maternity-pay structure, and qualifying-week detail.

Likely next horizontal expansion after paternity.

Shared parental

Best when parents want to share leave and pay in the first year after birth or placement.

Open official shared parental overview

Official sources used

Source and review block

GOV.UK: Shared parental leave and pay

Used for the overview that parents may share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of pay.

Open official source

GOV.UK: Paternity pay and leave leave page

Used for the paternity leave timing and 52-week window.

Open official source