SMP

[MoaningMyrtle96]

Posting for traffic here.

We are due in 2020 and trying to work our finances.
How much did you get whilst on maternity leave? I have just read that after the standard SMP they'll also deduct tax and national insurance too. And what happens if you take a full year, you're not given anything at all for the remaining 2 months?

I completely understand having a child is your own decision but why is SMP so low? Most families have both parents working prior to birth to have enough income and then when one is off work to care for the baby you then get a measly £148 a week!

@MoaningMyrtle96
If you are well over the higher benefit charge cap I wouldn't claim it and pay it back - it just becomes too messy - and you could end up with a big repayment bill (Happened to someone I know and they were given maybe 30 days to pay back £5k!)

@maternityleave234 I think I remember seeing a country like Switzerland (?) get a full paid year off.

We're lucky to have family who will help with childcare but a months nursery fees in my village equate to £860. I think closer to the time we'd work out if it's worth going back full time or not.

@itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted well I certainly won't be doing that then for the sake of £20 a week. Thanks for the insight, that's crazy!

Pretty sure it would not be Switzerland! Many countries offer less than U.K.

They would have only paid back what they had kept knowing they weren't entitiled to, luckily you don't need to do that anymore, can just apply and say not to get the money.

It is ridiculously little, 100% agree OP. I'm very fortunate that my employer has offered considerably more.

I get so cross about this, and will no doubt by shot down but why the heck should I and all the other tax payers pay any more smp to people who have chosen to have children. Your children are not my responsibility and if you can’t afford to take a full year off then don’t.

At least you get smp, you don’t in lots of other countries

You could always appease the eco warriors and dont have kids

It is actually a myth you don’t get taxed on smp, you can do depending on your year to date earnings!

@Chloemol cool, just let the rich have babies and finally a cleansed society is one step closer to fruition. Or, support families who will be able to afford said children when they are back working, but might want to actually spend some time with their child; nice.

While some countries likely offer less than the UK the article below shows that UK offers less than a lot of countries. Estonia pays 85 weeks at your full pay! 😊

www.employeebenefits.co.uk/estonia-paid-leave-mothers/

SMP is low but if you choose not to return to work there's nothing to repay.

I think its sweden that has great maternity leave benefits and im pretty sure 6 months is forced paternity leave so women are bot disadvantaged by having the time off. Its the most equal rights of all the countries.

@Tippety. What are you chatting about. Where have I said anything about the rich? I was commenting about the fact the op says smp is rubbish. Just be grateful it’s there. I work very hard to support my family and like many others save to allow time off. Many countries don’t have smp.

Having children is a choice, and it’s up to those having said children to decide if THEY can afford it and take the time off. I still don’t see why tax payers should be paying even more smp

@Chloemol
Did you decline all SMP then when you had children?

It is terrible compared to other European countries - this month I'm about to get the first full month on SMP, I had some days at 90% last month plus got some tax back and I'm not looking forward to my payslip, it works out around an 86% pay cut for me. We can afford it with plenty of savings but, as my husband gets 12 weeks full pay, we've opted to do the Shared Parental Leave so I'll be going back after 6 months (plus accrued holidays) and he'll do the last 10 weeks and we'll be back to both of us earning full pay pretty quickly.

Seriously, if your partner's income will be over £50k that year claim Child Benefit but elect not to receive the cash when you claim.

Nothing to pay back and no issues of being pursued for repayments. No faffing but the NI credits are there etc.

Don't miss out on that because one internet randomer shared a horror story that can easily be avoided!

@Chloemol do you want to pipe down for just a second? Where have I asked for more money? Did I ask for anyone to fund my child? My other half loses nearly £40k a year to tax and national insurance.

I am expressing my frustrations at how low SMP really is. We are not going to struggle but others do. I did not once say it is rubbish so please re-read my post.

I would surely hope if you have children or you decide to that you decline SMP and find yourself for the year since you're such a jumped up fool.

@ContadoraExplorer
12 weeks full pay for DH? That's really good? Who shall I send my DH CV too? 🤣

I also agree it's piss poor pay and should be a percentage of your usual salary for a lot longer.

It's shocking. In hind sight I can see why some of my friends specifically went for jobs with good maternity packages! Once I started maternity leave that was basically my wage gone for the next few years due to nursery fees etc. Massive shock to the system after having a nice bit of disposable income to hardly anything!

If you still have time save as much as you can while you can. Start being economical and try living on the income you will have as early as possible to save for unexpected stuff later.

@Wellie89 it didn't even cross my mind to think of looking at maternity packages with jobs. I've been with the same company since I was 20 so it was the last thing on my mind.

I can be a savvy shopper when I want to be so I am looking forward to next year where I work out some great healthy meals that don't cost the earth.

@raspberryk thank you for understanding my point - I agree with you!

While we're complaining about SMP (and shared parental leave and Statutory Adoption) may I ask what fuckwit designed the rules?
Could they be any more labrintyne and pointlessly complex? I assume they date from the time when the government paid it so were designed to require the maximum possible amount of admin staff in the days before we had so much computerisation.

Why is it up to the government to pay for your maternity leave? If you want children you need to save up beforehand to make sure you have enough to live on

If your partner earns over £50k you should still claim child benefit and pay it back via the tax thingy (Not sure exactly how that bit works).

For stay at home parents this is important as years claiming child benefit count towards pension qualifying years (think it's called national insurance credits)