Did you get into debt on maternity leave?

[HelloFrogs]

I follow Nugget on Instagram, it’s a self described page dedicated to money when on maternity leave. A video today said 26% of mums get into debt when on maternity leave. Tbh I can see how, not that I think we personally would. We would just go without as we are fortunate enough to afford the absolute essentials and bills on one wage. I’m taking 10 months off (and even that will be a stretch) but SMP just does not go very far. Cost of living crisis is horrendous and mortgage rates are sky high - we just fixed a new one and I could cry at how much our mortgage will soon be!

Before anyone criticises those who get into debt on maternity leave- don’t, you don’t know the circumstances: cost of living crisis, made redundant, unexpected twins, unplanned pregnancy, the list goes on!

Did you get into debt on maternity leave? Is it actually that common?

No, but only because we are fortunate to have savings to supplement the loss of income.

DH also gets a generous 4 months of SPL at full pay so we are utilising some of that when I go to statutory to reduce the amount we need from savings.

Hoping not to (just started mat leave) but my husband is self-employed so it’s always a possibility or that I go back earlier. As it is he is a higher earner and will take over all house bills whilst I save my three months full pay and have saved up a bit in advance so I only need to worry about my own personal spends and classes for baby.

No, thankfully we didn’t. We were able to save prior to TTC to ensure we had a bit of a safety net. DH was an “essential worker” during covid whilst I was pregnant and ended up getting stuck away from home working a lot of overtime during my pregnancy so that allowed us a bit more of a cushion. There also wasn’t any baby groups on around me during the first 6 months of DS life and we couldn’t really do anything so didn’t spend as much as we thought during maternity on leisure.

I can absolutely see how people could end up in debt though. Especially with unplanned pregnancies or changes in circumstances etc.

That took longer than I expected!

I said I wouldn't have. You do whatever the hell you want, love.
Part of reason we decided to have DS was because we could afford to without a buttload of financial stress. I can't help it if you find that somehow personally insulting.

We did but we planned to. I wanted to take the full year and didn’t get an enhanced package. We were saving but fell pregnant straight away and had some house renos to finish. We knew I would return to work on a decent wage so took a 0% credit card and had the balance paid off with 5 months of me returning to work. It allowed me to take DS to all the classes/play cafes I wanted to and meant we had our first family holiday before I went back. We could have done it without but I’m pleased we did!

I didn't the first time because I saved plenty to cover the unpaid months as I wanted to take a full year. I still contributed 50% of household bills.

Second time round I did save but due to unforeseen health problems with my DH I have ended up with some additional debt as I had to use all that I saved to cover additional costs whilst DH wasn't working.

I'll be spending the first 6 months back at work paying that off then I should be back on track.

No, but I got full wage for 6 months and then got a bonus which funded the second six months, definitely lucky circumstances though.

In a way yes, in a way no. Took the full 12 months plus all holiday after so unpaid for 3 months and only SMP before that.
We could survive on one wage, had some savings but towards the end kept a few things on a credit card to keep the cash available.
Returned to a high paying job with a decent amount left over after childcare so no regrets.

The second time around so far it’s fine, again just SMP and expenses have ended up much higher than when I financially planned while pregnant. We have more expenses this time too like a full time nursery place for the eldest so who knows if the 5k pot will stretch fully during the last unpaid months but either way I won’t be cutting my leave early, that’s not worth doing for me personally.

Also to add the savings came from joint money and then my husbands salary covered all our expenses and extra spending, the savings were just to dip into. The savings were not to I could continue to “cover” my half.
I know some people who saved themselves in a marriage so they could take mat leave which to me is nuts.

No but I couldn’t afford a year off so went back after 7-8 months. I wish I’d put a few months on the credit card in hindsight, I hated having to go back so soon. SMP is rubbish!!

Yeh we did! Happy to be judged!

We saved, I had decent mat pay for 6 months, but also popped some bigger purchases on a 0% credit card and paid it off once back to work.

Did the same on all mat leaves, and currently paying off a 0% card. I've never paid a penny of interest and my credit rating is excellent- also meant I could enjoy mat leaves knowing we had the card available for emergencies.

Not all debt is unmanageable debt

It's the childcare cost that will potentially cause debt for us 🫠 when we did the refreshed budget 44% of income will go on nursery fees 😩 no option to take a career break career suicide so next few years will be a very interesting time as we live frugally and within in our means just now

I had savings but that soon went. I'm a single parent and even with benefits it didn't cover it. I went back to work when my baby was 4 months to stop getting into debt.

I had nothing but bad luck while pregnant which wiped out every penny. Boiler broke, car broke. You name it.

I got back to work finally ready to right myself financially and found out I was unexpectedly pregnant again. That maternity leave crippled me and I did leave in debt.

I didn’t receive any mat pay other than stat unfortunately .

Yep. I got stat mat pay only- and an absolute litany of shit went down in the year after my baby was born. I’m still paying it off 7 years later.

Severe postnatal anxiety - needed urgent MH treatment. NHS said wait 6-12 months and def couldn’t wait that long. Paid for private therapy (ended up needing it for 2 years- below makes it clear why.) That almost wiped my savings.

Partner and I split up (myriad reasons, none obvious pre baby, no way to work it out - he was drinking) when baby was 6 months old. I relocated to the other end of the country (where my family were). After 3 months living back with my mum (who had asked - if not outright told me (I was still very mentally unwell and desperate for someone to tell me what to do) to move home indefinitely so she could help me and baby), she decided it wasn’t working (actually her partner of a few years was being an arse), and I had to move out. I had to find & furnish a new rented home for DS and I. End of my savings and credit card paid rent up front/ furniture etc

I went back to work FT when DS was 12 months- now with an enormous credit card bill, and in a job that paid half the salary I’d earned prebaby (had to change industries to something more child friendly). Some months things were so tight nursery fees had to go on the credit card.

I mean I could go on, but that year of my life - DS aside- was hell, and financially I’m still putting the pieces back together.

Just off mat leave for baby number 2 and no, we didn't get into debt or use any savings, thankfully.

Baby was a welcome surprise, had the full year off and then some by using accrued holiday. We bought most things second hand this time around, sold bits as soon as we were finished with them. Saved through pregnancy, saved money on holiday camps and wrap around care for eldest which we cut by two-thirds the cost - we did still use it and holiday camps, just not as extensively.
Batch cooked and meal planned, free baby classes, didn't go crazy with take aways and fancy coffees, although a few emergency ones were utilised. We also still went on 3 Uk based holidays.

It was comfortable without feeling too pinched. We live in a mortgaged house in the SE commuter belt, neither of us are high earners, just sensible. Was on SMP with no enhancements. Did KIT days to boost income especially coming up to Christmas, birthdays, during the unpaid 13 wks and holidays, used the unpaid portion of my mat leave to get paid out on some accrued holiday.

Likely to need to dip into savings before the 15 subsidised child care hours come into affect. Going back to work has cost more than being at home.

No but I am a big planner cleared a big loan before even trying and saved saved saved throughout pregnancy and massively cut back during SMP. This was before the COL crisis however and I know for some this isn't an option.

Very common. In spite of having saved enough money to pay for the mortgage on a flat I had bought as a "retirement investment " at 33 for a year, everything else caught up with me. I had to sell the flat 2 years later and am always in and out of my overdraft.

I did. There were a lot of factors involved which I don't have the energy to go into but I've ended up with several thousands of pounds of debt which I'm still struggling to pay off 6 months after the end of my ML. I did have some savings but they didn't last long.

We did. We didn't make many sacrifices and chucked the spending on a credit card. Then once xxx was on a credit card it felt like monopoly money and it turned into xxxx. We were low earners and didn't have much to cut anyway

No, I was anxious about mat leave, so don't think I would have without a decent plan plus a back up plan.

I appreciate not everyone is fortunate for that.

DH is covering all bills and spending money during mat leave.

If the worst happened and DH was unable or unwilling, then I'd use savings to cover costs.

No. However I see an awful lot of women on here talking about how they have been living off their savings throughout maternity leave as 'D'H expects her to contribute 50:50 to household costs. These women are often trying to pay for their own and kids expenses out of child benefit or berated for asking for extra money from him to pay for food or nappies. He also seems to think that he is enabling her to stay at home and that he shouldn't have to do anything around the house while his wife somehow tries to find half the money to run the household.
I'm sure that financial abuse during maternity leave and beyond causes many women to go into debt too.

Sadly yes. We moved house half way through and I just didn't have enough to give the 3 months on no pay. Mine are 3 years apart and I had number two a little earlier than ideal. We still had 6 months of nursery fees for two before oldest started school. We were £2.5 down per month sending the two of them to nursery 4 days a week. That took the remainder of my savings. I'm only just out of it 3 years later.

Yeah I’m the sole earner in the family and I wanted to take the full year. I was lucky enough to get 20 weeks on full pay and 20 weeks SMP but I took out a 10k loan to cover the rest and paid it off over four years.

I agree with the poster you’ve quoted - it was very important to me to know that we were financially stable before trying to conceive, to know that we could manage any unexpected costs and to be able to pay for needed items without worrying.

However I have a family member who is about to have their planned second in circumstances that I’d never do so, because that works for their family and what they want. No judgement from me, we’re different people with different priorities.