Canada Maternity Leave Calculator

Estimate your government maternity benefit, maternity benefit weeks, and benefit timing under Employment Insurance outside Quebec or the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan in Quebec.

Privacy: Your entries stay in your browser. This calculator does not store, transmit, or sell the figures you enter.

2026 benefit rates

Quebec uses QPIP for maternity benefits. The other provinces and territories use federal EI maternity benefits.

Used to determine the earliest maternity benefit week.

Enter this only if the child has already been born. It can change the latest benefit week.

You may choose any date in the week. Benefit weeks are shown from Sunday.

Use gross pay before tax. For variable earnings, the official program may use a different weekly average.

Optional eligibility threshold check

EI maternity benefits normally require 600 hours of insurable employment in the qualifying period. Other eligibility conditions also apply.

How this maternity leave calculator works

This tool estimates government maternity benefits, not the length of job protected leave from an employer. Employment standards for maternity or pregnancy leave are set separately by federal, provincial, or territorial labour rules. Employer top ups may also apply and are not included here.

Important distinction: EI and QPIP replace part of eligible earnings while you are away from work. They do not, by themselves, determine how long your employer must protect your job.

2026 maternity benefit formulas

Outside Quebec: Employment Insurance

Estimated weekly EI maternity benefit = 55% × average insurable weekly earnings, up to $729 per week in 2026

EI maternity benefits are available for up to 15 weeks. Service Canada calculates the official amount from insurable earnings in your highest paid weeks, using a divisor that depends on your EI economic region. That means a simple conversion from regular salary can differ from the official result when earnings vary.

Quebec: Quebec Parental Insurance Plan

Basic plan = 70% × average weekly insurable earnings for up to 18 maternity weeks
Special plan = 75% × average weekly insurable earnings for up to 15 maternity weeks

For benefits beginning in 2026, QPIP uses maximum insurable earnings of $103,000. For many wage earners, QPIP generally bases the benefit amount on the average insurable earnings from the last 26 weeks of the qualifying period, subject to exceptions.

How the benefit dates are estimated

EI maternity benefits can begin as early as 12 weeks before the expected week of birth or in the week of birth if that happens earlier. They cannot normally be paid more than 17 weeks after the later of the expected week of birth or the actual week of birth.

QPIP maternity benefits can begin as early as 16 weeks before the expected week of delivery and, unless an exception applies, must end no later than 20 weeks after the child's birth. The calculator uses Sunday as the start of a benefit week.

Eligibility points this calculator does and does not check

For EI maternity benefits, the standard hours requirement is 600 hours of insurable employment in the qualifying period, along with other conditions such as an interruption of earnings. For QPIP, one key threshold is at least $2,000 in insurable earnings during the qualifying period, plus residence, contribution, and work reduction conditions.

The optional threshold field checks only the 600 hour EI threshold or the $2,000 QPIP earnings threshold. It is not a full eligibility determination.

Common reasons your official amount may differ

  • EI may use 14 to 22 of your highest paid weeks, depending on the unemployment rate in your EI region.
  • QPIP may calculate average earnings differently for wage earners, self employed workers, or people with special circumstances.
  • EI family supplement amounts for qualifying low income families are not included.
  • Employer maternity top ups are not included.
  • Taxes and other source deductions are not subtracted from the displayed gross estimate.
  • Special rules can apply to hospitalization, recent claims, interruptions, self employment, or other unusual situations.

Waiting period note for EI claims in 2026

A temporary federal measure waives the usual one week EI waiting period for new claims that start between March 30, 2025 and October 10, 2026. For claims outside that temporary period, the usual one week waiting period may apply. The waiting period does not reduce the maximum number of maternity benefit weeks.

Sources and methodology

The calculator uses official federal and Quebec government rules and 2026 benefit ceilings. It performs all calculations locally in the browser. No entered figures are sent to a server by this code.

Methodology last reviewed: September 24, 2026.