Maternity certificate redaction is the removal of personal and health data from a MATB1. The Employment Rights Act 1996 s.71 grants ordinary maternity leave and s.73 the additional period, with the mechanics set by the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regs 1999; statutory maternity pay rests on SSCBA 1992 Part XII and the Statutory Maternity Pay (General) Regs 1986. An employer may confirm the entitlement, yet the clinical detail stays special category under UK GDPR Art. 9. anonym.plus marks each item on your own device.
When this applies
A midwife's MATB1 carries the mother's name, an NHS number, and the expected week of childbirth. You trim those identifiers before the form passes to a line manager who needs only the booked dates and the qualifying week.
How anonym.plus handles it
- Open the certificate in anonym.plus on your workstation.
- Local OCR reads a scanned, signed MATB1 page.
- The tool flags the name, NHS number, and the due date.
- Keep the qualifying-week box a manager must verify.
- Swap each item for a steady label, or black it out.
- Save the clean copy. It never leaves your machine.
What you need to provide
- The certificate (PDF, DOCX, or scan).
- An operator: Replace (swap), Redact (black out), or Mask (partial).
- Optional alias map if you must re-link the mother later.
PII entity types detected
| Category | anonym.plus entity type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Names | PERSON | Charlotte Whitfield → [EMPLOYEE] |
| NHS Number | UK_NHS | 485 777 3456 → [NHS_NO] |
| Clinician | PERSON | Midwife S. Pratt → [CLINICIAN] |
| Dates | DATE_TIME | due 14/09/2026 → [DATE] |
| NI number | UK_NINO | QQ 12 34 56 C → [NINO] |
| Contact | PHONE_NUMBER | +44 7700 900142 → [PHONE] |
Compliance achieved
- Preserves proof of the leave right under ERA 1996 s.71 (ordinary) and s.73 (additional), as worked through by the Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regs 1999.
- Keeps the qualifying-week evidence that underpins statutory maternity pay under SSCBA 1992 Part XII and the Statutory Maternity Pay (General) Regs 1986.
- Handles the clinical detail as special category data under UK GDPR Art. 9, on the employment and social security condition in Art. 9(2)(b) read with DPA 2018 Sch. 1 Pt. 1 para. 1, which expects an appropriate policy document.
- Runs fully offline, so the certificate never reaches a server. Working copies are guarded by AES-256-GCM; 340+ PII types across 48 languages.
Anonymise maternity leave certificates offline — see plans & start free →
Limitations & cautions
The tool flags named items, but a due date plus a small team can still single out the mother. Review free-text notes yourself, and store the certificate apart from the general personnel file as the ICO expects for special category data. Redaction does not touch the separate duties owed under Equality Act 2010 s.18 or the redundancy priority in reg. 10 of the 1999 Regulations.
Frequently asked questions
What may an employer keep from a MATB1?
Enough to confirm the right to leave under ERA 1996 ss.71-73 and to statutory maternity pay under SSCBA 1992 Part XII — in practice the qualifying week and the expected date. The NHS number and other clinical detail can be trimmed, and anonym.plus flags them so you decide.
Does redaction affect maternity redundancy protection?
No. The priority for a suitable alternative vacancy in reg. 10 of the 1999 Regulations, extended by SI 2024/264 to 18 months after birth from 6 April 2024, applies whatever the file looks like. Redaction only limits who sees the health detail.
Is the certificate uploaded for processing?
No. The desktop app runs on your device with no cloud step, so the Art. 9 data stays on your machine.