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!

I think the onus should be on employers to pay decent parental leave. Mine wasn't great but better than SMP 90% for 6 weeks 50%+SMP for 16 weeks then SMP , I also got paid full rate for KIT days on top of SMP some companies deduct. DH got six weeks full pay paternity leave which was really good and they encouraged me to use Flexi and save leave before maternity, so I went back to work a month before I physically did and went onto full holiday pay after SMP ran out. We found about five grand covered the shortfall in my income and we didn't save like we usually do when I was on mat leave, but it was fine we weren't scrimping to get by and I'm the higher earner. We do manage our finances well and don't take on debt, finance, credit cards etc so our bills are only necessary ones.