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!

Haha @itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted that may out me but they're a large, multifaceted, German company and they offer that to both mums and dads.

My old place actually offered 3 months full pay which has recently been increased to 6 months according to old colleagues, however if I had stayed there I probably wouldn't have had my baby as I would never have seen my husband due to long hours (or worse we'd have split up from the stress) so I took the chance on crappy SMP to be happier overall.

@MoaningMyrtle96 wow cage rattled or what. Typical man no ones allowed to have a thought that’s different to yours

@itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted No I didn’t, because I needed it, along with savings, but then I didn’t moan about it either, I was just grateful there was something

Man = mn

My employer does six months at full pay, three months on SMP then nothing for the remaining three months.

We have worked out this time, I can take roughly ten months off using a combination of holiday and maternity leave. The months when I will only be receiving SMP, I will be doing KIT days which will provide me with full daily pay and I can do up to ten days.

There will be a couple of months that will be tight but we have planned for that!

@familycourtq₩ same fuckwit who designed universal credit and student finance I'll bet. Sick to the back teeth of that pair of incompetent government departments. I fondly call the dwp the department of wankers and pricks.

@PinkSpring that's a great maternity package in my eyes. So glad you've got it all sorted & planned!

What are KIT days? Pardon me for being stupid

To add to the tax and NI discussion, depending on when in the year you go on mat leave it can actually go the other way - I got fairly decent tax rebates several months on the trot whilst on mat leave. Went on leave at start of October having been a higher rate tax payer for the first half of the tax year so it basically meant that averaged over the year I overpaid tax.

KIT days are Keeping In Touch Days. Basically days you go into the office to attend meetings, get back into daily tasks, etc.

You can do them at any time during maternity leave, but obviously if you do get paid for them, you might as well save them for when it's only SMP

If it's any comfort, I actually found that we spent quite a lot less during mat leave. Fewer zero nights/meals out and no expensive holidays. We had quite a lot of baby clothes given as gifts or handed down, so we didn't need to spend too much after the initial outlay of cot/pram etc.

Check your company KIT policy - they are allowed to offset SMP against any payment you are due, and SMP is a weekly payment so you might end up with nothing extra or not much.
Learned this the hard way with the NHS - assume other employers are the same, and you only benefit if you are on the unpaid weeks.

@PinkSpring @Nicketynac unfortunately my company doesn't offer these days. These sound great!

@fadingfast this is my hope too. I think we should be ok but there's always that thought in the back of your head!

Your company has to offer KIT days, it's part of maternity legislation? You should be able to work up to 10 days.

If you swapped your Maternity to shared parental (I don't think your DH actually has to take any leave and it doesn't affect your pay) then you end up with 20 SPLIT days instead of the 10 KIT days.

Maybe worth looking into.

I like that you say your OH pays 40k in tax but you are complaining about how low SMP is. To pay 40k in tax he must earn a bomb! You do realise most people/their DHs do not earn a bomb?!

The rest of us muddle through on totally average wages and SMP. Somehow we don't starve to death

Actually I stand corrected. Gov.uk does say they are optional and employer and employee don't have to agree to them. Not great on your employers behalf to not allow them though :(

We def get them and they are paid at full daily rate on top of SMP, but as someone said below, not all employers offer them and some don't pay extra or only top up SMP which is a shame.

@Preggosaurus9 oh bless you. I was moaning for others, some comments down I do say this for clarification since everyone assumes I am moaning for my own household income.

@MoaningMyrtle96 what a rude nasty person you are. Calling people names because you think I haven’t read your post. It’s obviously your way or no way. . Great example you are going to be to your child

As I have said just be grateful you get something, some countries don’t. Having children is a choice, planned or not, we didn’t always get smp, we didn’t always get child benefit, we didn’t always get the benefits we do, and it’s not a bottomless pit

@Chloemol well you didn't read my post? I didn't ask for tax payers to pay more tax to increase SMP. I was merely saying it's frustrating how low it is. I did not say it was rubbish either, something else you accused me of saying.

I am pleased you can make a prediction on my parenting because I called you a fool for incorrectly reading my post and making assumptions.

Chloemol, given that the only person here being rude and nasty is you, I suggest you wind your neck in. You are the one who has the attitude of your way or no way. OP is being polite in her responses to everyone, including you. She only called you a dick because you are being one.

@settybuarez. What’s the point of op querying why smp is so low which implies it needs to be increased, op admits she is frustrated by the fact it’s ‘so low’. My argument is we should be grateful we get anything.
Where have I ever called anyone a ‘dick’ or told them to ‘wind your next in’ both rude and unnecessary comments b

Typical on here that if you ever disagree with an op the people like you come out to shout
,

@chloemol I am allowed to question something. I wanted to know the reasoning behind it being so low when the average living costs without children equate to move than that’s given. At what point did I say it should be increased? I asked why it was low and expressed frustration.

At what point did I say I am ungrateful? I am thankful for it as it’ll definitely help but I think of others in my frustration.

You didn’t come to disagree, you came to make judgement and accuse me of asking tax payers to pay more to increase SMP but I think you’ll find it’s the employer who pays SMP.

@SettyBuarez thank you for supporting me and understanding.

The employer pays SMP but then is reimbursed by the government so it is the taxpayers who pay it.