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Parental Leave Calculator Canada | EI Maternity and Parental Benefits

Updated

Parental Leave Calculator

This calculator estimates what you’d receive on EI maternity and parental leave outside Quebec: the weekly benefit, the number of weeks, the total, and how much of your pay it replaces with or without an employer top-up. It is part of our guide to life stages and life events.

How this calculator works

Enter your weekly insurable earnings (or annual salary), choose a leave type and your province, and add an employer top-up percentage if you have one. The leave options:

  • Maternity only: 15 weeks for the birth parent, at 55% of earnings.
  • Standard parental: up to 35 weeks for one parent at 55%, or 40 weeks when both parents share.
  • Extended parental: up to 61 weeks for one parent at 33%, or 69 weeks when both share.
  • Maternity plus standard or extended parental, for a birth parent taking both.
Weekly Insurable Earnings
Annual Salary (optional)
Leave Type
Province / Territory
Employer Top-Up (%)
Estimated Weekly Benefit
Weekly Insurable Earnings
EI Benefit Rate
Maximum Insurable Earnings (2026)
Weekly EI Benefit
Employer Top-Up (weekly)
Total Weekly Income
Leave Duration
Total Benefits (before tax)
Income Replacement %

Note: EI maternity and parental benefits are taxable income. A one-week waiting period applies before benefits begin (not included in totals above). Quebec residents receive benefits through QPIP instead of EI.

The weekly maximum

EI pays 55% of your average weekly insurable earnings (33% on extended parental), up to a maximum set by the year’s maximum insurable earnings of $68,900 in 2026: $729 a week at the standard rate and $437 on extended parental. Earnings above the maximum don’t raise the benefit, so higher earners replace a smaller share of their pay.

Example: a parent earning $60,000 a year has average weekly insurable earnings of about $1,154. At the standard rate the benefit is $635 a week; on extended parental it is $381. Over 35 standard weeks that is $22,212, and over 61 extended weeks $23,227: extended leave spreads a similar total over more weeks, at a lower weekly amount. Before tax, and before any employer top-up.

Standard or extended, and sharing the leave

You choose standard or extended parental benefits when you apply, and both parents must make the same choice. When both parents share, the total rises above what one parent can take alone, because some weeks are available only to the second parent. How the weeks, the choice and the sharing rules work is explained in the EI maternity and parental benefits guide.

Employer top-ups

Many employers top up EI for part of the leave, often through a supplemental unemployment benefit plan that brings pay to a set percentage of salary for a set number of weeks. The terms (the percentage, how many weeks, and whether you must return to work afterwards) are in your employment contract or collective agreement; the calculator’s top-up field shows the effect.

Who qualifies, and how to apply

You need 600 insured hours in the 52 weeks before your claim (or since your last claim), and your regular weekly earnings must have dropped by more than 40% because you're pregnant, recently gave birth, or are caring for a newborn or newly adopted child.

You apply to Service Canada once your earnings stop, with the Record of Employment your employer issues. The waiting period, the documents and how payments start are covered in the maternity and parental benefits guide. EI benefits are taxable income.

Quebec: QPIP instead of EI

Quebec parents receive parental benefits from the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan, not EI. QPIP’s basic plan pays 70% for 18 weeks of maternity benefits, has paternity weeks of its own, and insures earnings up to $103,000 (2026). This calculator doesn’t compute QPIP.

Planning the gap

The difference between your benefit and your pay is the amount to cover during leave. How much to save for maternity leave works that out month by month, and the first baby financial guide lists the other applications due around the birth.

Sources

The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them between September 23, 2026 and September 29, 2026. How we check facts.