That’s not quite true. The general rule for most people is that you get a year of maternity leave; the first 6 weeks are at 90% of your usual pay, then you get 33 weeks at the lower of 90% or £172.48 per week, and then the rest is on Maternity Allowance which is a lower amount again.
The two weeks rule applies only to people who otherwise aren’t entitled to maternity leave - normally this is people who are self-employed, agency workers or on a zero hours contract (although you should always check as there are exceptions to these rules that employers will try to pretend don’t exist). In that situation, everyone is entitled to two weeks maternity leave for safety reasons, or four weeks if you work in a factory.
That said, a lot of people don’t get to benefit from these rules because employers will straight up lie to employees about what they’re entitled to, and rely on employees either not checking for themselves, or being too scared of losing their job to insist on getting what they’re entitled to. If you’re ever in this position, you should absolutely contact Citizens Advice - they know the rules inside out and will be happy to help remind your employer of their obligations, and also of what happens to employers who are found to retaliate or discriminate against employees who are pregnant or new mothers.
I should add to that another point: in a more white collar fields companies in the UK compete for employees (among other parts of benefits package) with the terms they offer for maternity cover, and many will provide many months, at least 6, of fully paid leave.
That’s not quite true. The general rule for most people is that you get a year of maternity leave; the first 6 weeks are at 90% of your usual pay, then you get 33 weeks at the lower of 90% or £172.48 per week, and then the rest is on Maternity Allowance which is a lower amount again.
The two weeks rule applies only to people who otherwise aren’t entitled to maternity leave - normally this is people who are self-employed, agency workers or on a zero hours contract (although you should always check as there are exceptions to these rules that employers will try to pretend don’t exist). In that situation, everyone is entitled to two weeks maternity leave for safety reasons, or four weeks if you work in a factory.
That said, a lot of people don’t get to benefit from these rules because employers will straight up lie to employees about what they’re entitled to, and rely on employees either not checking for themselves, or being too scared of losing their job to insist on getting what they’re entitled to. If you’re ever in this position, you should absolutely contact Citizens Advice - they know the rules inside out and will be happy to help remind your employer of their obligations, and also of what happens to employers who are found to retaliate or discriminate against employees who are pregnant or new mothers.
I should add to that another point: in a more white collar fields companies in the UK compete for employees (among other parts of benefits package) with the terms they offer for maternity cover, and many will provide many months, at least 6, of fully paid leave.