Almost 40,000 Maternity Benefit claims in 2025, figures show

There were almost 40,000 claims for Maternity Benefit and 27,749 Paternity Benefit claims starting in 2025, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

For Maternity Benefit claims, the number is 5.1 per 100 female employees, while for Paternity Benefit claims, it is 3.4 per 20 male employees in 2025.

Among sectors, the Human Health & Social Work Activities sector had the highest proportion of Maternity Benefit recipients, at 6.5 per 100 female employees.

The highest number of Paternity Benefits was in Public Administration and Defence at 5.1 per 100 male employees in 2025.

The lowest proportion for both Maternity and Paternity Benefit claims was in Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing at 2.1 and 0.9 per 100 employees, respectively.

The CSO also found that over 85% of claimants who started Maternity Benefit in 2023 returned to work for the same employer within six months of the benefit ending.

Fiachra Cahill, Statistician with the Statistical Systems Co-ordination Unit of the CSO, said: “There were 39,268 claims for Maternity Benefit, and 27,749 claims for Paternity Benefit that began in 2025. This release provides insight into some characteristics of these claimants, such as income and employment for Maternity Benefit recipients, uptake rates of Paternity Benefit (54.7% in 2023), and emerging patterns of how Parent's Benefit, which is nine weeks of paid leave, is being taken.

“Please note that all results for 2025 should be considered provisional. The CSO will update this data as more information becomes available.

“Over a quarter (26.1%) of those who started Maternity Benefit in 2024 did not receive any payment from their employer during their leave period. However, when considering total payments, inclusive of the Maternity Benefit plus any employer top-up, fewer than 14% ended up with pay lower than 50% of their pre-maternity level during leave. In the same year, almost 60% continued to receive full pay during Maternity Leave.

“The proportion of Maternity Benefit recipients per 100 female employees in the 15 to 44 age range has been declining since 2016, dropping from 6.9 per 100 in 2016 to 5.1 per 100 in 2025.

“There was a notable increase up to a peak level of 7.1 in 2021, before falling back to 5.5 in 2022. The 2021 peak coincides with a drop in the labour force size as well as a small increase in the birth rate for that year, both of which were most likely impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.”