How to work out (and maximise!) your Occupational Pay

Occupational pay refers to the pay that you receive on top of statutory maternity pay. For teachers governed by Burgundy Book conditions this is 4 weeks at 100%, 2 weeks at 90% and 12 weeks at 50% + SMP.

The following advice applies to those who are on burgundy book terms and condition/ or whose employers have adopted these terms within their own trust/academy policy. This advice also applies to how your employer should work out your 90% paid weeks. Some employers may adopt a policy of paying occupational pay at the rate of your annual salary on the commencement of maternity leave - do check your policy for the exact wording if burgundy book provisions are not followed.

Working out your qualifying week:

Occupational pay is worked out based on your average pay in the eight weeks before the qualifying week. To work out your qualifying week you need to first establish your EWV - Expected Week of Childbirth - this is the Sunday to Sunday week in which your due date falls. For example, a baby due on Wednesday 16th September, has an EWC of 13/09/26 - the Sunday before the due date.

You now need to count 15 weeks back, so following our example above, 15 weeks before the 13/09/26 is 31/05/26. The qualifying week for this pregnancy would be 31/05/26 to 06/06/26.

Which payslips are used to calcualte my occupational pay?

This example assumes you are paid monthly. Look at the dates of your qualifying week, you must then use the two payslips that fell within that week, or as close to it as possible. So for my example above if the teacher is paid on the last day of the month, her average salary would be based on the salary paid to her on 31/05 and on 30/04.

Let's look at a second example. Jane is due on 05/11/26. This is a Thursday, her EWC will start the Sunday before so 01/11/26. Fifteen weeks before that is 19/07/2026, so her qualifying week is 19/07/26 to 25/07/26. Jane is paid on the last working day of the month, so her July salary will not be included as it won't have been paid by 25/07. Her average salary will be calculated based on her June and May salaries.

Why is it beneficial to know these dates?

If you have worked this out in advance and overtime is a possibility, you can try to maximise your payslip in those months. Remember it is the payslip that is looked at, so the month in which the overtime is paid rather than when it is actually done.

For more information please visit the government guidance on this here.