To think the amount of SMP is entirely unreasonable?

[SMPWTF]

I knew the amount prior to TTC but only now at 6 months pregnant is it actually registering.

£184 a week, and it’s taxed. If it weren’t taxed the amount would be £736 for a 4 week month.

How is this even close to enough?

DH and I earn similarly, respected careers but we’ll never be millionaires. Our household bills for our small semi-detached home are just over one of our whole salaries.

I understand that in the ideal you’d save up for maternity leave, but in practice that’s difficult for most people. The start up costs for preparing for baby are very expensive. We have been lucky to have been gifted a lot of big ticket items but even so the costs still add up fast. I can’t imagine even trying to save anything for a second maternity leave if you’re paying childcare fees for your toddler - probably one of the reasons we’ll be one and done.

I don’t think working people should have to save for years per child they have. Nor do I think people should only have children if they can afford to live on one income, because then we create a society where only either end of the wealth spectrum find themselves in a position to start and grow families.

No wonder couples are having fewer or no children.

Why can’t women be paid at least 50% of their wage? So many companies offer 6-12 months full sick pay, so why are so many still reluctant to meet this offer for parental leave?

I think many posters would happily sacrifice many small businesses for a few extra quid.

Oh my love, I think parenthood might come as a bit of a shock.

Entrepreneurship is very important though, and tomorrow’s large employers are today’s small businesses. Amazon started out in a garage, for example!

Not that I’m a huge fan of huge companies, but they often start small.

Isn't the thinking behind offering enhanced maternity pay for longer because businesses want to attract and retain high quality staff though? The same as why businesses offer childcare vouchers etc? You want to make it attractive for people to work for you and to stay working for you.

I hope you have the same attitude to your old age care? Why should other people fund your old age care when you didn't save for it yourself? You want care when you get old? You pay, or care for yourself.

Aww do you think? Funny, as I’m only describing the lifestyle my friend has (who is here with me agreeing). Glad typing that comment gave you a little boost though

Well social care is already means tested 🙄 so most people will be funding their own care until they reach a certain threshold tp be eligible. Not to mention the taxes you pay go towards funding adult social care so in a way it's only getting back something you have been paying towards anyway.

But why should social care be funded at all? If you can't afford to pay for your own care after a certain point, why should other taxpayers (clue - the children who you didn't want to fund) pay for your care?

NB This is not an opinion that I actually agree with, I'm just being facetious because of @BeaRF75 's ridiculous opinion.

It's great if your friend can afford that on maternity leave or while she has a pre-schooler or 2 in nursery. I couldn't neither could most of my contemporaries.

Similarly when I was working part time and they were school age, coffees out were a rare treat.

Did you read what I said? I said occasionally meeting for a coffee, holiday/trip every couple (2-3) years.

But for many there is, child benefit is £20 a week, hardly ground breaking.

many on smp aren’t eligible for UC due to the threshold being so low.

You don’t get care paid for unless you have no assets and savings though, you have to pay for it yourself. My aunt was paying just over £5,000 a month for my uncle who sadly got dementia- they had to release equity from their house. Burned through most of it before he died after 2+ years.

Free care is only available if you are palliative, are receiving NHS care at end of life or coming out of hospital- everything else is classed as social care and you gotta pay for it yourself.

It has been the same case for my Grandmother. Those with dementia are treated appallingly.

No, I don’t think they could but I was giving an unreasonable “perfect world” scenario. My version of utopia. I know I was unrealistic and wouldn’t expect it.

Many are eligible though and this helps ensure women and children are warm and fed. So, the state does step in and having children means you get more UC than those who don’t have children. This is, of course, as it should be.

Unfortunately, those just over the threshold are the ones who suffer the most - they earn “too much” to get UC but not enough to live a reasonable quality of life, which is highly problematic.

Matenity leave doesn't last years, it's a few months of belt tightening.. As others have said, you get child benefit , we went to chap church groups. Garden centres are a rip off. You know what they say about holidays with small children ? Same shit different wallpaper. I am only suggesting you might be happier aligning your expectations.

Oh and getting a really decent coffee machine at home and a thermal cup.

What a spurious argument

Some people still paying mortgage on a pension, so that retort does not work.
Old age is not a lifestyle choice. Pregnancy is ( as mentioned before, I am not including unwanted pregnancy)

You are not putting them into a gulag, ffs

Oh piss off with this trope. You have no idea how crippled people were when mortgage rates went to fuck in the late 80s
And taking the piss out of people who genuinly have experienced living conditions so poor that they do get frost inside the windows, is just so arrogant
And your choice to get pregnant, why should the rest of the world pay?

The biggest problem…

There are people like you, me and plenty of other parents out there with morals work. Therefore we have to plan and make sacrifices when raising a family. Whether that’s returning to work early, not having any extras (skimping on food shops, new clothes, holidays, sky TV, nails done), etc. Most of us have worked since 16 (maybe earlier). I have some enhanced maternity but nowhere near full pay. In theory (and statistically) our children will also grow up to have ambitions to build a career, buy a house, travel etc. We will spend time with them both in play and supporting them learn. Actually contributing positively to society.

Now onto the problem in our country…

On the other hand there are plenty of ignorant and selfish people who choose not to work. They don’t think about saving for their own or children’s future because they think this… “The government will pay me to have 6 kids to 10 potential fathers. Then I am entitled to a 7 bed house, a garden, sky TV, nails done twice a month, drinking, smoking and an all inclusive holiday to Benidorm every year. All because I choose to sit on my arse and not work (except when spreading my legs).”

Yes, of course it is...
Plenty of jobs are important, including those that keep babies/children alive

Well, they will have a state pension
It just won't be enough to live on

Yes I do actually, mortgage payments as a portion of household income was less on average, house prices were less on average, people borrowed less compared to their income on average therefore the impact was less. That doesn’t mean people didn’t suffer.

its not taking the piss out of poverty (way to go with that straw man btw) but highlighting this race to the bottom that has people from certain generations saying you can’t complain because we had it worse.

that is the welfare state though, where does that argument end? It’s your choice to have smoked / overate / done that extreme sport so why should we have to pay for that medical treatment? Your choice to have walked down an alley so why should we pay for the police in the event of an emergency.

pregnancy is not a lifestyle choice, it’s a stage of life.