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Applying for maternity leave

Last updated on January 15, 2026

Once you have planned your leave, it’s time to complete and submit your application.

The standard one week delay before receiving EI benefits has been temporarily waived for all new claims that start between March 30, 2025 and April 11, 2026. You may want to serve the waiting period if you're eligible for a top-up allowance.

Before you apply

Application

As a BC Public Service employee, you have access to an interactive Maternity, Parental Leave and Allowance Digital Application to improve your experience as you prepare for your maternity leave. Features include a date picker and calculator to make it simpler to select the start date and length of leave.

  • Your information is pre-populated, resulting in quicker application time, fewer errors, and less manual effort
  • The application guides you through the process by providing relevant information for each of the sections

You can save your application as a draft and return later to make edits before you submit it for approval.

Complete the application between 4 to 8 weeks before the start of your leave.

Please note: this application is only to be used by BC Public Service employees.

Start the digital submission

Only complete the maternity, parental, pre-placement adoption application below if you are unable to use the Maternity, Parental Leave and Allowance Digital Application. PDF applications will be returned unprocessed if you are eligible to complete the Digital Application.