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EI Maternity and Parental Benefits: Weeks, Amounts and How to Choose

Updated

Having or adopting a child can entitle you to two EI benefits: maternity benefits for the person who gave birth, and parental benefits that either or both parents can share. This page covers both. Quebec residents claim through QPIP instead of EI.

Maternity benefits

WhoOnly the person who gave birth, including a surrogate
LengthUp to 15 weeks
Rate55% of average weekly insurable earnings, up to $729 a week (2026)
Earliest start12 weeks before the expected due date

Maternity weeks can’t be shared, but they can be followed by parental benefits.

Parental benefits: standard or extended

StandardExtended
Rate55%33%
Maximum a week (2026)$729$437
Weeks, shared between parentsUp to 40Up to 69
Most one parent can take3561
Must be received within52 weeks of the birth or placement78 weeks of the birth or placement

Source: Service Canada, EI maternity and parental benefits.

  • Sharing unlocks extra weeks. One parent alone can’t use all of them: the last 5 standard weeks (or 8 extended weeks) are only available if the other parent takes some.
  • The choice is final. Both parents must choose the same option, and it can’t be changed once parental benefits have been paid.
  • Extended spreads about the same money over more weeks. At the maximums for 2026: 40 weeks of standard at $729 is $29,160, and 69 weeks of extended at $437 is $30,153.

Who qualifies

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

Self-employed people can get these benefits only through EI special benefits for the self-employed: Self-employed people can register for EI special benefits (maternity, parental, sickness and caregiving), but must wait 12 months after registering before they can claim. See self-employed and EI.

How much you get

The amount is 55% (or 33% for extended parental) of your average weekly insurable earnings over your best weeks. For steady full-time earnings in 2026:

Annual earningsMaternity or standard parentalExtended parental
$40,000$423$254
$55,000$582$349
$68,900 or more$729 (maximum)$437 (maximum)

Low-income families can get up to 80% through the family supplement. Tax is withheld from each payment.

Employer top-ups. Some employers top up EI with a supplemental unemployment benefit (SUB) plan. An employer top-up to maternity or parental benefits doesn’t reduce your EI as long as EI plus the top-up doesn’t exceed your normal weekly earnings and the top-up isn’t used to reduce other benefits you’ve built up, such as sick leave, vacation credits or severance pay.

When and how to apply

You can apply for maternity and parental benefits in one application once you stop working; see how to apply for EI for the steps and the 4-week deadline. The waiting week was waived for claims that start between March 30, 2025 and October 9, 2027.

Quebec: QPIP instead of EI

Quebec residents get maternity, paternity and parental benefits from the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan, which has its own rates, weeks and higher maximum. They still use EI for regular, sickness and caregiving benefits. See QPIP.

Sources

The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them between September 23, 2026 and October 7, 2026. How we check facts.