Mat pay - is this "good"??

[newmummy21]

Just wanting to gauge what's typical, I guess, as this is the first time I've been on mat leave so I have no idea what's normal.

I usually earn 2,600 net in my job. Currently on mat leave and have lost £800 a month so taking home only 1,800 whilst on mat leave. This is a significant loss to our household income and my partner is having to do a lot of overtime to make up the shortfall. We also had to save like mad during my pregnancy to cover this, so we didn't struggle.

I mentioned this to a friend recently and she said "my god that's amazing mat pay, you have no idea how lucky you are, I had next to nothing... " etc,

So... is losing £800 a month really "amazing" for mat pay??

I'm a higher rate tax payer who only gets SMP, so I will be losing a lot more than £800 a month when I go on leave. My elder child will still be going to nursery as well which is £85 a day. You are very, very, very lucky OP!

I'll just answer the original question, it's very good, you are very lucky! With the mat pay and the crazy cheap childcare!

@Getyourarseofffthequattro

well it is in a four week month....

in reality its more like £710.60

and the tax free childcare is a max of £500 per quarter so its gonna be more like £548.30 per month which is yes still very cheap

There are also days when my partner will be off mid week (he works some weekends and has mid week days off here and there), so might even it out a little but yeah. £550 on a month of using them every day, then.

I got 6 weeks at 90%, 6 months at 50% then statutory and then 0 for the last three months ten years ago.

My firm now offers 12 months full.

I'm in private sector and I get full pay for 22 weeks, then statutory for 17 weeks then unpaid for the remainder. If you spread that across the 52 weeks it would be equivalent to only earning about 40% of my total salary, so yours is better. Although I do accrue my bonus (25% of my base pay last year) during the 22 weeks paid, which baffles me, but I'm not complaining...

most nurseries wont give you odd days off for free - youll have to pay for the place!

I'm in NE and FT at the several nursery's I looked at were approx £1000!

I get 6 weeks full pay and 33 weeks 50% pay (which is more than SMP).

I used around £20k of savings to fund my mat leave - so yes I'd say yours is pretty good.

I had 12 weeks full pay then SMP, and I was off for 13.5 months total (8 weeks paid leave included in that time). I am the main earner so it cost a lot to make up the difference in salary. Financially it would have made sense to go back earlier but that wasn't what we wanted.

My previous employer was 6 months full pay so it cost me £10k more than it could've.

39 pounds per day for 5 days per week by my calculations come to just under 700per month after the tax free childcare element.
But yes you're absolutely right to factor the tax free childcare element!

There are also days when my partner will be off mid week (he works some weekends and has mid week days off here and there)

Just FYI, you pay for your child’s place, regardless of whether they turn up so you would need to have consistent days in mind or you would be paying full.

I’m in the NE and nursery is £55 a day. I know people paying more than that round here too. We’re in the city though.

I'm sure you're very aware that most people on gov mat take a lot less than you but you wanted to be goady 🥱.

I don't know, newmummy, but what I do know is people who have saved a heck of a lot of money whilst on maternity leave due to not buying lunches, lattes and shoes (their words)!

Even if you don't save much after losing £800 a month, I'm sure you will break even.

Anyway, it's not forever.

Congratulations by the way.

To the pp who questioned my mat payments being correct ... you made me panic so I literally have just rang Payroll now and asked them to double check.

She has assured me it's correct and is going to re send the paperwork to reassure me. But basically it's based on gross monthly income of £3,812. With tax, NI and pension removed i take home £2,600 (thereabouts). On mat leave I take home only £1,600. She did say a lot of people don't realise that NHS pays occupational mat pay on top of SMP, which makes it more. I didn't realise that other employers didn't pay occupational mat pay as I've never worked for any other employer than the NHS.

I got stat mat pay, £130 a week which was just awful

@Getyourarseofffthequattro

most nurseries wont give you odd days off for free - youll have to pay for the place!

This one does - I checked

FT nursery £500 a month?!

FT nursery for our 2 year old is £1,200pcm in SE.

@Thefaceofboe

There are also days when my partner will be off mid week (he works some weekends and has mid week days off here and there)

Just FYI, you pay for your child’s place, regardless of whether they turn up so you would need to have consistent days in mind or you would be paying full.

Not at this nursery you don't. They are flexible to cover shift working patterns etc

@Maggiesfarm

I don't know, newmummy, but what I do know is people who have saved a heck of a lot of money whilst on maternity leave due to not buying lunches, lattes and shoes (their words)!

Even if you don't save much after losing £800 a month, I'm sure you will break even.

Anyway, it's not forever.

Congratulations by the way.

Ah thank you!

@newmummy21

Full time nursery £500!? We have ours in part time and it’s double that!!

She did say a lot of people don't realise that NHS pays occupational mat pay on top of SMP, which makes it more.

Not for the full pay weeks because you can’t be better off on maternity than in work.

But I’m only a NHS HR director. What do I know?

@newmummy21

To the pp who questioned my mat payments being correct ... you made me panic so I literally have just rang Payroll now and asked them to double check.

She has assured me it's correct and is going to re send the paperwork to reassure me. But basically it's based on gross monthly income of £3,812. With tax, NI and pension removed i take home £2,600 (thereabouts). On mat leave I take home only £1,600. She did say a lot of people don't realise that NHS pays occupational mat pay on top of SMP, which makes it more. I didn't realise that other employers didn't pay occupational mat pay as I've never worked for any other employer than the NHS.

Sorry ...£1,800 not 1,600 (sleep deprivation!!) 💤

Yes that's a good amount for may pay. I got approximately £500 which was about 1200-1500 less than I was earning whilst working (with overtime).

Have you properly looked into this nursery? Sounds VERY cheap and to give you random days off without having to pay doesn’t sit right with me. They still have to pay their staff so they really wouldn’t benefit from this, hence why it’s not the norm in nurseries.