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Plan for an employee's maternity leave and cover

A member of your small team has told you they're pregnant. Congratulate them properly, understand the steps and dates from GOV.UK, and plan cover without panic.

Updated 17 Oct 2026

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The prompt · ChatGPT

Help me plan for an employee's maternity leave.

The role: [what they do]
Due date and what they've told me: [details]
How long they've worked here: [time]
Cover options: [temp, spread across team, freelancer]

First ask me up to 4 short questions. Wait for my answers.

Then:
1. A warm, supportive reply.
2. Look up the GOV.UK pages for employers on maternity pay and leave. Name them and list the dates and steps to check.
3. A cover plan with options and the handover timeline.
4. Keeping-in-touch ideas that respect their leave.
5. Questions to check with Acas or an adviser.

Not legal advice. Only use what I've told you, leave blanks for anything I haven't given, and don't invent facts or figures. UK English.

For GOV.UK employers' maternity pay and leave pages, use web search and name the page you used. If it doesn't search on its own, open View all tools and choose Search.

Stay in this ChatGPT chat. Do not turn on apps or connectors, and do not use memory from another chat.

A short example

Fill the blanks, then paste. what they do: a short note you already have. details: a short note you already have. Leave the rest of the prompt as written.

The prompt · Copilot

Help me plan for an employee's maternity leave.

The role: [what they do]
Due date and what they've told me: [details]
How long they've worked here: [time]
Cover options: [temp, spread across team, freelancer]

First ask me up to 4 short questions. Wait for my answers.

Then:
1. A warm, supportive reply.
2. Look up the GOV.UK pages for employers on maternity pay and leave. Name them and list the dates and steps to check.
3. A cover plan with options and the handover timeline.
4. Keeping-in-touch ideas that respect their leave.
5. Questions to check with Acas or an adviser.

Not legal advice. Only use what I've told you, leave blanks for anything I haven't given, and don't invent facts or figures. UK English.

For GOV.UK employers' maternity pay and leave pages, switch to Search mode so the answer comes with a citation.

Stay in this Copilot chat. Leave plugins off, and do not open a file from OneDrive.

A short example

Fill the blanks, then paste. what they do: a short note you already have. details: a short note you already have. Leave the rest of the prompt as written.

1

You describe the role, the due date and what they've told you.

2

The assistant asks about cover options and what the person has said about plans.

3

You get a warm reply, the steps and dates to check on GOV.UK, a cover plan and keeping-in-touch ideas.

What happens

Use Copilot to plan for an employee's maternity leave and cover

A member of your small team has told you they're pregnant. Congratulate them properly, understand the steps and dates from GOV.UK, and plan cover without panic.

Tools

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