Malta Maternity Leave Calculator 2026

How it's calculated

Maternity pay in Malta comes in two parts. The employer part covers the first 14 weeks of leave, which your employer pays with full wages. Full wages are more than basic pay: they include the statutory bonus and any other pay that counts as wages, but not performance or production bonuses. The calculator takes 14 times your basic weekly wage and adds the bonus and other wages you enter for those weeks. If you leave that field blank, it shows the basic subtotal and keeps full employer pay and the total open. The State part is the Maternity Leave Benefit. It is paid only for weeks of leave after the 14th, which your employer does not pay, and for at most 4 weeks. If you go back to work after 14 weeks, there is no State part. If you take 16 weeks, there are 2 State weeks. The benefit is a flat weekly amount, the same whatever you earn: €229.44 a week in the Department of Social Security's 2026 schedule, for benefit weeks from 3 January 2026 to 1 January 2027. For weeks after that the rate is not published yet, so the State part stays open. The average divides the total by the weeks you actually take. All figures are gross.

Employer part = 14 × basic weekly wage + statutory bonus and other wages for those 14 weeks
State weeks   = weeks taken − 14   (0 to 4)
State part    = State weeks × €229.44   (2026 rate)

Total maternity pay = Employer part + State part
Average per week    = Total ÷ weeks taken

Worked example

Take a basic wage of €400.00 a week, €200.00 of statutory bonus and other wages in the 14 paid weeks (an illustration: your payroll figure will differ), all 18 weeks taken, and the 4 unpaid weeks falling in 2026:

If the same employee went back to work after 14 weeks, the State part would be €0.00 and the total €5,800.00, an average of €414.29 a week. Each unpaid week taken, up to four, adds €229.44 in 2026. The State amount is the same for every eligible employee, so the higher your wage, the more the average falls below your wage when you take the unpaid weeks. These are gross figures: the amount reaching your bank account depends on your tax and social security position, which this calculator does not work out.

When your result may differ

Your result can differ from this estimate. Figures are gross: tax and social security on the employer-paid weeks are not deducted here. A contract or collective agreement with better maternity terms raises what you get. If a fixed-term contract ends during the leave, the employer part may be shorter. If you do not go back to work, or leave within six months of returning without good cause, you may have to repay the maternity wages. The calculator counts whole weeks; a part week after the 14th is not worked out. The State benefit must be claimed after the 18th week, and the Department's pages give two different six months deadlines (from the birth, or from the end of the 18th week), so claim early. Self-occupied women, special maternity leave for health and safety reasons, and adoption leave follow other rules and are not worked out here. Check your own position with your employer and the Department of Social Security.

Rates and thresholds

Malta maternity leave for employees and the State benefit rate, 2026.

Sources & legal basis

Update log

• 2026-06-02 — Set the 2026 State Maternity Leave Benefit flat rate to €213.54 per week for the 4-week State portion.
• 2026-06-15 — Added the how-it-is-calculated section, worked example, when-your-result-may-differ note, rates table and official source table; verified the 14 + 4 week structure against the Employment and Industrial Relations Act and the Social Security Act.
• 2026-09-27 — State benefit now only for the unpaid weeks actually taken after the 14th, up to 4 (Cap. 318 arts. 71(5), 72(3)); a 14-week leave had been given €854.16 it does not get. Rate corrected to the 2026 DSS figure of €229.44 a week (the page used €213.54, the 2024 rate). Employer part now full wages with the statutory bonus and other wages (S.L. 452.91 reg. 7, Cap. 452 art. 2), and stays open until that figure is entered. A blank or zero wage leaves only the employer part open instead of zeroing everything. Self-occupied readers get an open result, not €0. Sources now point to the provisions.