To think the amount of SMP is entirely unreasonable?

What post are you on about? I’ve not said that. I’ve gone back and checked, I’ve not said that.

ive laid out what I think in my previous post. I think 90% of a weeks wage or £250 a week is a reasonable adjustment, plus 12 weeks at 90% pay (I also think this should be extended to cover prematurity). I think that is a fairer policy. With big companies having to have a minimum full pay requirement for men and women. I think there should be parity too, making the option of shared parental leave more viable for many.

Your first post was very clear.

You said SMP should be income related. The poorest workers get the least, the richest workers get the most.

The women least able to save to cover maternity get much less than the women most able to save to cover maternity. That is what you are asking for.

What sound be beneficial is for all companies to be required to show their maternity packages as part of job advertisements. Plenty of people saying you should consider their package before taking a job which is true, but realistically what woman of childbearing age is going to ask this at interview?

Erm, im not pregnant so no I’m really not asking for an increase for myself, my maternity pay days are over, so this literally does not apply to me.

so actually yes, what I want would be an increase for lower earners, esp those who work in big companies, it is not right that multi million £ companies can offer such pittance. I think, it should consist of 12 weeks at 90% pay, and then £250 a week/ 90% of your weekly earnings whichever is lower. I also think it should be paid up to 12 months.

Ps op - many employers have equalised their maternity and paternity policies. What can your partner get if he takes a few months once your enhanced maternity pay finishes?

I got 6 months full pay then the rest smp. Together with child benefit plus 6 weeks paid holiday, i spread the money across the whole year and it wasn't too bad. I would not take any job not offering enhanced maternity & paternity pay.

If mum can take 7-8 months and dad can have a few months paid too it would work.

You weren't asking for an increase for lower earners. You were, and let's be honest, asking for more money for yourself.

What year was that?

I'm not going to say that your three children have any issues because I don't know them.

However I've never yet met a perfect person who was raised absolutely perfectly. And I've met plenty of "did me no harm" people who are blind or oblivious to the flaws in themselves or their children (yes MIL, I'm referring to all your diet advice when your adult sons are both overweight).

And I say this as a mum who'll be sending her son to nursery at 1, which plenty of others would say is too young still.

because it would benefit them too?

smp isn’t a preserve of the rich you know. Plus I’d see no reason why the lowest paid in society should see an increase, it should be high earners the +80k annual salary, and then a proportionate increase.

As I understand it SMP can be claimed back from HMRC.

I''dgo along with making SMP income related if higher earners were taxed more.

Why should low paid street sweepers and carers pay more tax so that higher earners can get more money?

I wouldn't be. No!

Surely you can’t be this naive, you’ve managed without a medical emergency until now, so it’s unlikely you’ll ever use it? That’s preposterous. Likewise with emergency services. You can’t be serious with this statement. If someone stole your car, you’d call the police. If you had an appendicitis you’d go to an and e. If you were in a car accident, you’d like use all 3 emergency services.

you’re young now, you won’t be forever, increasing age increases the propensity of using those pesky publicly funded services.

well you could’ve gone to private school? If we want to be pedantic.

Well you are talking hypothetical here what of you needed a&e well I'm managed to my adult life without needing it. Or if something happened and I needed the police or fire brigade... noone knows if there will be a situation when I need to call on those but judging I have managed my adult life without the need to I think it's safe to say it's unlikely.

I paid for uni myself aa there was no free uni for me. My education up to 16 was paid by the state and it's not a decision I had control over.

So not much of a hypocrite if my education is the only thing to date.

I agree with you OP. Yes, in an ideal world you’d save and save to cover SMP, but that’s not always realistic or possible. DS was a surprise in an already heightened period of financial outgoings (we’d just got married days before finding out I was pregnant and had booked and agreed for work to be done on the house immediately following the wedding) and then we had to foot the upfront costs of preparing for a baby with no time to save for anything else. I was very lucky and got enhanced maternity pay (6 months full then onto SMP). We managed to put some money aside during my first 6 months to top up the SMP, but in reality my maternity income was needed to pay bills elsewhere as DHs income didn’t cover all our mortgage and bills. My family helped us out for the last couple of months, which I realise isn’t possible for everyone and we were very fortunate as it gave me a extra couple of months off with DS or I’d have had to go back at 6 months instead of 9. We even asked about taking a mortgage break to help financially. Honestly it’s made me realise just how unrealistic SMP is. And childcare fees are astronomical so not a chance could we have had DC2 and manage those on maternity pay. Already agreed DS needs to be in school before we even consider DC2. If I ever look for another job I won’t even consider an employer that doesn’t offer the enhanced maternity pay as we just couldn’t cope financially. Although as pp have said most companies don’t advertise it until you’re in the role!

Completely agree with a rule about making benefits transparent!

Yes, it's bad enough being a young woman, in my case married (using Mrs + wearing a ring) where I can tell they're thinking "about to pop off for a year and have a baby". I think if I asked about Mat leave packages I'd never be considered!

Not saying I totally agree with OP but I do think transparency is always way forward

@anonhop i had a similar package in my last job! Ime it’s really hard to find out what the mat leave is in most jobs until you… start the job, which is really frustrating. Would be good to see some legislation that meant jobs had to make their full benefit package accessible in an interview process. Somehow, even as a person who takes feminism seriously in the workplace, I don’t want to ask about mat pay in an interview!

My company advertise that they offer "enhanced" maternity pay.

Instead of 6 weeks @ 90% then 33 weeks at SMP, it's....

4 weeks @ 100%, 2 weeks @ 90% and 33 weeks at SMP

Will be reading the ins & outs of policies if I can before my next job!!!!!

Employers cannot claim the whole of SMP back, it was changed to 92% ages ago.

£221 a week / £11k untaxed and hopefully by then no mortgage or rent looks generous - especially if you add in private pensions.

i think smp should be income related.

Yanbu, it's such a small amount and it's not increased at all with the huge jumps in cost of living. I sympathise as my kids are a bit older (not very old!) and I struggled then, can't imagine what it's like now. To all the faux naive "did you not read your maternity policy"? - personally I didn't, because DC1 was a surprise so I didn't have loads of time. DC2 I did have more.

Also can't stand all the goady questions about who should pay/should we cut free nursery places etc? I mean there are a few sensible suggestions like increased wealth tax and corporation tax, to benefit society as a whole and reduce the wealth gap... Rather than constantly hiking up taxes on income.

It is low in England, here you get 480 days, with 90 ring fenced for each person which is use it or lose it. For most of it you get 80% of your salary (there is an upper earning cap for very high earners), the final 90 days are at a reduced rate which works out at about £15 a day, but employers if they wish can top this up.

It’s not worse now, just different. Enhanced maternity leave packages are more common and statutory leave is much longer. More women are now working full time and in many cases, the higher earner with a career to return to.

It's only taxed if you earn more that £12,570 during the tax year.

Which if you are in Mat leave is rather unlikely

My sympathy with the OP is somewhat diminished when she admits that waiting 5-10 years would take her and her DP into their 30s. Choosing to have children young and before you’re established in your career is a choice, but you can’t be surprised if the result is a significant drop in income. Lots of people plan their family around career progression and an employer that offers an enhanced package.