Page 4 | Maternity pay

Neverknowinglyunderfed · 18/01/2022 08:26

Our nursery have just stopped offering it. It's so annoying but I guess they want all their spaces to go to people who pay full whack all year round

Onionpatch · 18/01/2022 08:38

You do neeed to plan and save and your partner does need to contribute to the cost of maternity leave. Its a joint expense. I cant wrap my head around men and women who feel women should do the pregnancy, give birth, maybe breastfeed and not miss a beat with financial contributions as if that bit didnt happen.

It also doesnt need to be a whole year, just long enough for you to recover properly. I went back at 8 months and the last bit was annual leave not mat leave. Also your partner might want to use shared parental leave so he might find he has no income for a bit to even it up.

LJAKS · 18/01/2022 08:46

Pregnant Scottish teacher here
Holidays wise the councils are notorious for calculating it so you won't really know until you set a return to work date. Some can be taken as holidays but some have to be paid. Difference between holidays and "school closure days" but it's a magical thing that payroll only seem to know.
But the short answer is yes, you need to save up for it. There's a degree of flexibility in returning to work if you look at the SNCT so it may be the case that you take 6 months then return to work PT for 6 months or some such arrangement that works for you. I only managed 4 months with my first. Better prepared this time but it's still not going to be pleasant.

Artichokepiglet · 18/01/2022 08:47

We managed just fine on SMP. I actually think it's much tougher in the years after mat. leave ends. Since returning to work I've been taking home much less than I was on SMP because of the cost of childcare...my take home was £130 per month and I thought that wasn't great until overheard a teacher in Aldi saying hers was just £75 after childcare!

kittykat33 · 18/01/2022 09:00

Yes I saved quite a bit before maternity leave. Also my partner kept us afloat and worked overtime when we needed the extra money and I picked up the slack at home. We had to be careful with money.

I was a tough year but I am grateful I got to spend 15 months with my baby and it was worth it.

I did get a better maternity package that you're describing though. I get 26 weeks full pay.

MindyStClaire · 18/01/2022 09:18

We were lucky enough to be able to manage on one salary so it was ok, but yes, essentially save and budget is the answer.

I agree about those talking about the importance of sharing finances. It doesn't have to all be out of the joint account, but it's important that both you and your partner realise that once you have DC, the family is a joint enterprise.

Spend a couple of hours on here and you'll see just how often the woman's income is the one that suffers through lack of progress or part time working, or the father doesn't do any night feeds or spends all weekend cycling on his hobby.

You both need to realise you're in this together and life is going to change. There is no independence once you have a child, not to the extent there was before. Life will be much easier if you have those discussions now.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 18/01/2022 09:23

BOTH of you save equally for your maternity into a separate savings account for your use during this time.

It’s not just your responsibility to fund the costs of you being off.

sociallydistained · 18/01/2022 09:30

I've just gone on maternity leave this week. 90% for 6 weeks then stat pay. I am 38+5 and I'm already thinking I could of pulled another week at least to get more money, but there's no point thinking like that. I'll be going back at 6 months but I can take my child with me so no childcare costs so I'm working it out like that, whereas you may have childcare costs? so also have that to consider! It's expensive. My baby was unplanned, I was not prepared and cried my eyes out when I looked at the financials and maternity pay but thanks to Covid and many years of cancelled holidays, I can make it work.

I have to say though, having seen the cost and the maternity pay situation I would have never have had a planned baby as I just couldn't imagine that being feasible to me and here I sit due a baby any day who I can't wait to meet, have everything ready for it's arrival which we've bought over the year and I cannot wait to become a mum now and I know we'll make it worth... so it's that old cliche that there's never a right time to have a child!

stuntbubbles · 18/01/2022 09:40

Also your partner might want to use shared parental leave so he might find he has no income for a bit to even it up.
Yes, my partner did the fully unpaid 9m-1y stint! We both saved for that as my income going back to work part-time wasn’t going to cut it. I kept the child benefit for that period as it was too faffy to swap back and forth, but it all went on nappies/clothes/baby’s savings anyway as we were lucky enough to not need it for “wolf from the door” reasons.

gogohm · 18/01/2022 14:47

Both of you need to save up and then your partner needs to shoulder more of the household expenses. Remember you will have nursery bills when you return to work so if you can't live on his salary plus maternity you will struggle to pay nursery

Hannamarie0098 · 18/01/2022 15:34

I’m concerned about money during mat leave too. I’m saving bc as much as I can to make up for the reduction in salary. My husband isn’t in a position to put any money into savings so it does feel very much like it’s on me. However, my mum raised myself and my sister on far less than what I earn, so I’m sure we will be fine.

legalseagull · 18/01/2022 15:37

We put our mortgage on interest only until the kids left for school

Just10moreminutesplease · 18/01/2022 15:41

Another who waited until we could live on one wage. It’s a risky strategy but worked for us. Plus we’ve shared money for years so there was no worry about access to finances etc.

Bonnealle · 18/01/2022 15:45

We saved up a lot. We both wanted to take leave, and only 39 of the 52 weeks you can take is paid. We wanted to take some time off together as well so knew there would be months of no income at all. We also wanted to be able to do fun things and go away. Hence we saved loads of money, after which we did question for a minute whether to have a baby or travel round the world for a year!

red30505 · 18/01/2022 16:00

yes savings.
And sharing expenses. We have one pot of money for our life together. We're a team and our lifestyle costs both of our moneys.

TBH - once you're back at work and factor in childcare, you don't get left with much more than the SMP amount anyway.
(or at least, I don't).

Nikkic2123 · 18/01/2022 16:03

@nadiamumoftwo

No but really, how do people afford to go on maternity??! I’m 28 so beginning to think about babies and the future and I just can’t fathom how anyone survives on SMP? I get 3 month full pay (luckily) but after that it’s SMP. I am a teacher in Scotland and all my outgoings as pretty much accounted for. Do people save up for a year before going for it to ensure they have a “wage” for a year?

I didn't save for a year, I just didn't go anywhere. We don't have high out going at that time We had change out of £1000 a month on most house hold outgoings, Except, diesel & home heating oil.

I found that maternity pay was £140 a week and I didn't go anywhere to spend it

CMOTDibbler · 18/01/2022 16:15

Its not maternity leave you need to worry about - after all, you don't have to take the full year. Its nursery costs, and then wrap around care costs.
Start reducing your expenditure now, and start saving (both of you) as hard as you can to have a buffer of money for the first 5 years of your childs life

NotBloodyMrTumbleAgain · 18/01/2022 20:26

I'm in Scotland also. Here's how we did it: Saved for a couple of years and also took in a lodger and saved the rent money. We saved up £10k, though we didn't end up needing anywhere near all of it.

Put off buying a family home and stayed in our starter flat with a very low mortgage until I was back to work again.

DH absorbed some of the shortfall when my pay went down and we also used the savings.

We tag team some of the childcare so DD only goes to nursery 3 days. The downside is we don't often get a day when we're both off work, so family days have to be planned. You'll also get tax free childcare from the government, for us that works out at around £120 discount.

We settled for a really small house for our first family home. It means having to be creative with space and storage solutions and is often a PITA to be honest, but it does mean we can afford the nursery fees, days out, things like baby swimming and holidays. Those things are important to us. We will only move up to a bigger house once we're done with the high nursery fees.

I've gone back to work full time.

Don't worry. I too had a panic about how we were going to afford it all but we've managed so far. We're on very ordinary, probably low by MN standards salaries, £25k each (although that is hopefully changing soon).

waitingpatientlyforspring · 18/01/2022 20:45

Its all about saving and adjusting outgoings. Remember, while on mat leave and after, you don't tend to socialise much, you are tired, lack of babysitters etc. your work expenses decrease etc.

USaYwHatNow · 18/01/2022 20:59

I'm really lucky and work in the NHS which has a pretty decent mat leave package if you qualify. We'll have about 8k saved by the time baby is due, mostly due to my husband's job and work commitments abroad means he gets a bit more money.

Fuck knows what we'll do about childcare afterwards. I have a very keen mother who is desperate to get her hands on a grandchild and provide childcare but that does have its pitfalls, so we'll work it out and manage like everyone else seems to 🤞🤞😬😬

littleowls83 · 18/01/2022 21:30

I only got SMP as I was a teacher but on a temporary contract and was very ill in the pregnancy and had to leave work at 27 weeks. We had savings and you don't actually need to spend much money on a baby, plus at least for a while it kills your social life so you don't spend much.

Sceptre86 · 18/01/2022 21:41

My maternity pay is the same as yours, 3 months full pay and then Smp. I saved so that I would be able to pay the bills for 6 months and then dh would take over for the last 6 so I could have a full year off. This is only workable because he can absorb the costs on his current wage. Previously I've had to save up before I went on mat leave and been very strict about not touching that money as dh earned less.

Original poster

nadiamumoftwo · 18/01/2022 22:04

Hi all,

First of all, thanks for the advice. I’m not sure if I’ve not worded something correctly but I want to clear a few things up.

My partner is amazing, he more than pulls his weight and would 100% be splitting costs of childcare / maternity etc. It is a shared responsibly, I am very aware of this. I am also not interested in marriage and never have been, maybe I’ll change my mind but right now we have been together 10 years and I have no issues

I don’t not agree on the “shared finances” thing, if it works for you then fabulous but please stop insisting this is the only way a relationship can work and making assumptions on my relationship because I don’t share your view. Yes we are a team and yes generally our household bills/costs and joint activities are taken from our joint account but out with that we are free to spend our remaining earned monies on whatever we want. We both have our own lives outside of our relationship and both enjoy doing things with friends etc.

My question/thread was more about how people manage to have numerous children on average incomes despite SMP being so low. It’s a frustrating thing but hey that’s life, I just wanted to see how others ‘survive’. Having read the thread it is clear that planning/saving is key and people generally cut back while on SMP.

Overall, both my partner and I will get our saving heads on and plan on save up about £4k-£5k each before trying in order to cover my joint account contributions whilst on maternity and any baby activities while off, allowing me to use my SMP for my day to day living costs. We do have a decent income and probably are too frivolous in day to day but need to be a bit more sensible with money going forward.

Thanks all.

OP posts:

Mammyloveswine · 18/01/2022 22:09

3 months full pay?? Im a teacher in england and got 4 weeks full pay, 2 weeks at 90% pay then 12 weeks half pay plus statutory... then just statutory..

I took 6 months off both times...

Teachers maternity is certainly better than statutory but is shocking compared to othet professions

WTF475878237NC · 18/01/2022 22:10

I saved my salary equivalent for 9 months over 5 years before having my first baby...little bit away each month.