Maternity Pay

[Lauren]

Sorry I'm taking over this pregnancy forum a bit at the moment. Lots going on and it's helpful to get the perspective of others who are / have been in the same situation.

I've just found out my maternity pay. It's 4 weeks at 100%, 2 weeks at 90%, and then statutory maternity for however long I'm allowed to take off after. While I'm grateful that I get anything at all for having a baby and running away from work for several months, I can't actually afford this! I'm going to have to return to work after 6 weeks by the looks of it, but then I'll have to fork out for nursery fees which I can't afford. Gahhhh.
(No I have no family/friends nearby who can help me, no I don't have any bills I can really cut down on. I can move house but only after the dodgy cladding has been repaired - it's a flat - which will be in February)

Is this a normal rate of maternity? I'm sure last time (different employer) I was much less stretched! My HR manager was telling me she was sure it was 6 months at full pay and then looked visibly shocked when I showed her the policy.

 

[PhoebeC]

It is not uncommon at all, fairly standard. UK maternity and paternity, childcare as a whole is shocking. And most people don't have parents or family who can help, most new grandparents either still work, or have others to care for.

Mine was worse, actually, 6 weeks at 60% then statutory maternity. My husband only got 2 weeks paternity and she was early so I was in hospital having her for 3 working days before she was born (taken as sickness) then I was in for a week and she was in for 18 days, we already had used up weeks of our mat/pat leave and she wasn't even home with us. It was so awful, he had a week with us as holiday before he had to go back to work.

I am glad that Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act is nearly live, from 6 April 2025, its 12 extra weeks of leave and, if eligible, pay, but again the pay is at statutory. And its not enough and it's taken too long. And there's no other help. I worked until I was kept in hospital and my diabetes team kept telling me to be off, we couldn't afford that.

Some jobs have better pay, public sector, NHS, so on. But private sector only need to meet the legal requirements so mist do.

Have you looked at nursery costs? In most places this is from £45 up a day, and that varies, and places are an issue, and hours, most days are 8-5 (or less) and that won't work for most jobs.

My daughter is 14 now but when I went back after the full 9 months we didn't get anything really from my wage and she was only in for 3 days a week, he worked Saturday with a day off in the week and my grandma had her one day a week, we where very lucky we could do this.

I am sorry its so rubbish. That's why people aren't having children, its not affordable, if not impossible for some.

https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/ - great campaign group on this matter, and employment issues for pregnant / new mums

 

[Inka]

I can’t remember my Maternity Pay exactly at my last job, but it was something like 2 months at 90%, 6 months at 50% then a big drop.

You shouldn’t feel forced back to work @Lauren See if you’d be entitled to any benefits or other top ups.

 

[Lauren]

It is not uncommon at all, fairly standard. UK maternity and paternity, childcare as a whole is shocking. And most people don't have parents or family who can help, most new grandparents either still work, or have others to care for.

Mine was worse, actually, 6 weeks at 60% then statutory maternity. My husband only got 2 weeks paternity and she was early so I was in hospital having her for 3 working days before she was born (taken as sickness) then I was in for a week and she was in for 18 days, we already had used up weeks of our mat/pat leave and she wasn't even home with us. It was so awful, he had a week with us as holiday before he had to go back to work.

I am glad that Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act is nearly live, from 6 April 2025, its 12 extra weeks of leave and, if eligible, pay, but again the pay is at statutory. And its not enough and it's taken too long. And there's no other help. I worked until I was kept in hospital and my diabetes team kept telling me to be off, we couldn't afford that.

Some jobs have better pay, public sector, NHS, so on. But private sector only need to meet the legal requirements so mist do.

Have you looked at nursery costs? In most places this is from £45 up a day, and that varies, and places are an issue, and hours, most days are 8-5 (or less) and that won't work for most jobs.

My daughter is 14 now but when I went back after the full 9 months we didn't get anything really from my wage and she was only in for 3 days a week, he worked Saturday with a day off in the week and my grandma had her one day a week, we where very lucky we could do this.

I am sorry its so rubbish. That's why people aren't having children, its not affordable, if not impossible for some.

https://pregnantthenscrewed.com/ - great campaign group on this matter, and employment issues for pregnant / new mums

Thanks for sharing your experience Phoebe. I'm sorry you went through that, having to use so much of your maternity/paternity leave before your daughter was able to come home.

I did not know the Neonatal Care Act was a thing, that's good to hear! I'm in private sector so won't get more than they're willing to pay, but it's a good start.
Last time I worked for the NHS which explains why it was better.

Think I'm going to have to try to sell my house as soon as I can, and maybe our car, to be honest.

Thanks for sharing the link to the campaign group 🙂

 

[Lauren]

I can’t remember my Maternity Pay exactly at my last job, but it was something like 2 months at 90%, 6 months at 50% then a big drop.

You shouldn’t feel forced back to work @Lauren See if you’d be entitled to any benefits or other top ups.

I'm not entitled to any benefits, unfortunately. We are quite stretched with finances - if I make a trip to see my mum in Wales, we end up not having enough to eat properly that month, that sort of thing. But not poor enough for any benefits.
Our mortgage is pretty high and the cost of running our car isn't reasonable, this is the sort of thing I'll have to cut back on I think.

 

[Drummer]

I'm not entitled to any benefits, unfortunately. We are quite stretched with finances - if I make a trip to see my mum in Wales, we end up not having enough to eat properly that month, that sort of thing. But not poor enough for any benefits.
Our mortgage is pretty high and the cost of running our car isn't reasonable, this is the sort of thing I'll have to cut back on I think.

I suspect that if you sell your house you might never be able to afford another one.
I needed to be frugal when child rearing - rather than a car I had a bike with a trailer for child and shopping transport, I used cloth nappies, made clothes for myself and the family, and for other people who admired them, I worked out when to go shopping to get the marked down prices. I bought a big freezer to take advantage of the storage that gave. I used a credit card so that payments were delayed, but always paid off the bill in full, so I could get a bargain when I saw it. I bought second hand, went to charity shops and if it wasn't absolutely needed I went without.
Back when my children were small it was perfectly legal to look after another child and be paid for it - I am not sure of the situation now, but you might look into the possibility of helping another mother work whilst you are at home, even of her looking after your child whilst you are at work - though of course it would need to be someone utterly trustworthy.

 

[Leadinglights]

I suspect that if you sell your house you might never be able to afford another one.
I needed to be frugal when child rearing - rather than a car I had a bike with a trailer for child and shopping transport, I used cloth nappies, made clothes for myself and the family, and for other people who admired them, I worked out when to go shopping to get the marked down prices. I bought a big freezer to take advantage of the storage that gave. I used a credit card so that payments were delayed, but always paid off the bill in full, so I could get a bargain when I saw it. I bought second hand, went to charity shops and if it wasn't absolutely needed I went without.
Back when my children were small it was perfectly legal to look after another child and be paid for it - I am not sure of the situation now, but you might look into the possibility of helping another mother work whilst you are at home, even of her looking after your child whilst you are at work - though of course it would need to be someone utterly trustworthy.

I seem to remember a couple of police officers who had a reciprocal childcare arrangement and actually were prosecuted as it was not allowed as they were not related.
I couldn't believe how much it cost my daughter for nursery /childcare and even now the cost of before and afterschool care is pretty steep.

 

[PhoebeC]

You shouldn’t feel forced back to work @Lauren See if you’d be entitled to any benefits or other top ups.

This! But so many people are forced back into work, at all levels of job, professional levels. In the UK 40% of women return to work within less than 12 weeks of birth.

SMP is £184.03 weekly, less than half (46%) the £400.40 national minimum wage for a 35-hour week and less than a third of women’s average full-time earnings, that is insane. How is that person and their baby supposed to live on this amount. Blows my mind, how we do not care for families in this country.

And fine if you don't care about people having children or paying for people to do so that's one thing, however if you care about society as a whole, it matters. There is so much evidence showing this is why people are not having children until much later in life, or not having children at all. And there is a lot of research that shows we will not have enough young people for the country to operate. Now services are stretched, but birth rates are at the lowest since 1970's and dropping, and we have an increased older population, both how long people are living and immigration, births are not keeping up at the rate needed to keep the country going.

Sorry I have gone off on one @Lauren but it matters and gets me on my soap box. I am sorry that it is this way for you, trust me I get it.

As others have said babies don't care about new, you can save costs if you are savvy, can breast feed, washable nappies. Loads of charity, second hand kid swaps around. Look up what you have locally. Where I live there is a freecycle shop of clothes, equipment and toys, they only take good quality stuff in, anyone can donate and anyone can take, also they do supply nappies and hence products for those in need. It is a great community group.
Some food banks allow anyone for a small fee. There's support out there if you look.

 

[Lauren]

...I've just had an email from my HR manager telling me I should be more grateful for the 'generous' maternity pay scheme my workplace offers, which is 'above and beyond' the statutory minimum and more than most other private sector workplaces offer... I wasn't being ungrateful, I had just asked some clarifying questions about the pay because I was confused! Gahhhhhh

 

[Inka]

There’s some info re benefits here @Lauren but do check it’s up to date:

Money for parents and babies - Maternity Action

April 2024 If you are pregnant or have a new baby, this information sheet tells you what you may be able to claim and how to do it. You may be entitled to maternity pay if you are employed or self-employed, even if you only work a few hours a week, or if you […]

maternityaction.org.uk

Basically, some people can claim UC in addition to SMP. Their SMP is treated as income, and then the UC can top this up, depending on their circumstances.

 

[Pigeon]

Aw, sorry to hear you have this stress, that sucks! I work in the NHS, don't know how lucky I am!

I'd try to take longer than 6 weeks if you possibly can, especially if it's likely to be your last baby! A few other money saving thoughts, check out your local Children's Centre/Sure Start/ Family hub or whatever they're called these days! They offer all sorts of baby groups for free, I did a baby massage course too, mine also offered a surplus food club and pre loved clothes! I also used reusable nappies, check out Facebook marketplace for Preloved ones, I'm currently selling mine off. Also sell things as the baby out grows them, Vinted is good for this. Meet friends in the park and take a coffee with you from home, no need to have expensive meetups! Hope you can eke out the pay as long as possible!

 

[Lauren]

Aw, sorry to hear you have this stress, that sucks! I work in the NHS, don't know how lucky I am!

I'd try to take longer than 6 weeks if you possibly can, especially if it's likely to be your last baby! A few other money saving thoughts, check out your local Children's Centre/Sure Start/ Family hub or whatever they're called these days! They offer all sorts of baby groups for free, I did a baby massage course too, mine also offered a surplus food club and pre loved clothes! I also used reusable nappies, check out Facebook marketplace for Preloved ones, I'm currently selling mine off. Also sell things as the baby out grows them, Vinted is good for this. Meet friends in the park and take a coffee with you from home, no need to have expensive meetups! Hope you can eke out the pay as long as possible!

Thanks Pigeon, some great advice here! I already cut costs where I can but I didn't know about the free baby groups so will definitely look into this.
As for resuseable nappies, I bought a load of these for my first but didn't end up using them because the velcro fastening and elastic legs made marks on her skin (I was probably being overly cautious!) - think it was the Mio (?) brand, white and purple logo. I would be interested in looking into this again. If you have a particular type of nappy you'd recommend I'm all ears! 🙂

 

[Pigeon]

It was Mio Solo that we used, so probably the same. They do leave marks but nothing that doesn't fade- we never had any chafing. You do have to do them up tighter and slightly different to disposables- lots of YouTube videos on this. See if there is a nappy library near you, you can borrow loads of different brands for a donation and see what you like. Also recommend sling library for trying slings out!