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?

15 years ago six month olds went to nursery my 3 dc included. No harmful effects

Are you happy to pay much higher taxes to fund your proposal?

Load of people in Ops position will also get ‘top ups’ while on maternity leave, through UC.

@Parker231 that’s really nice for you and clearly suited you (genuine comment, not being funny with you!). But lots of women don’t want to do that and shouldn’t have to. Some women are seriously injured from birth mentally and/or physically and are not ready to go back after six months. Some don’t feel it’s right. I had an easy birth and great mat leave package and also wanted to return to work but can appreciate that’s not for everyone.

As for who should pay - taxpayers. The government should ensure that enough money is allocated to women to support them post birth. Giving birth to the next generation doesn’t really get more crucial does it? Giving birth to all these men who apparently hold up the world for us all? We need to start treating women better.

@cestlavielife totally missing the point. This comment is akin to people who say they have less child maintenance than the next woman so all women should shut up about being financially abused by men. Come on women, let’s do better….

Can’t you just do shared leave as you’re the higher earner, you go back to work and your partner takes leave until the nursery place is available.

Finding this thread absolutely bonkers.

That a forum full of mums can't have more understanding of the shit financial position new mothers find themselves in and helping find ways to make the world better.

All those posters saying, it was shitter in my day, I hope it's still shit for you, need to be ashamed of themselves.

I think it's a fair amount to be honest. If it's important to someone to have a good maternity package then that's something to look for whilst job hunting, which is what I did. More employers could offer better maternity packages. My employer has just increased the maternity full pay period from 18 to 26 weeks. My baby making days are over but I'm pleased for the women who it will benefit. But I'm not sure the state should fund it. The universal credit amount for an unemployed single person is less than £400 a month.

Agree with a PP. Paternity leave should be upped with a use it or lose it clause. I think having a year full pay is unsustainable in our society at the moment, but as a statutory requirement both men and women should get the same enhanced pay, then they can split the remainder as they see fit as you can do now with shared parental leave.

It’s a disgrace that men get less and just contributes to the notion that the female is always the primary care giver, and as a result discriminated in the workplace.

I would be yes!

My sympathy with the OP is somewhat diminished when she admits that waiting 5-10 years would take her and her DP into their 30s. Choosing to have children young and before you’re established in your career is a choice, but you can’t be surprised if the result is a significant drop in income. Lots of people plan their family around career progression and an employer that offers an enhanced package.

It's only taxed if you earn more that £12,570 during the tax year.

Which if you are in Mat leave is rather unlikely

It’s not worse now, just different. Enhanced maternity leave packages are more common and statutory leave is much longer. More women are now working full time and in many cases, the higher earner with a career to return to.

It is low in England, here you get 480 days, with 90 ring fenced for each person which is use it or lose it. For most of it you get 80% of your salary (there is an upper earning cap for very high earners), the final 90 days are at a reduced rate which works out at about £15 a day, but employers if they wish can top this up.

Yanbu, it's such a small amount and it's not increased at all with the huge jumps in cost of living. I sympathise as my kids are a bit older (not very old!) and I struggled then, can't imagine what it's like now. To all the faux naive "did you not read your maternity policy"? - personally I didn't, because DC1 was a surprise so I didn't have loads of time. DC2 I did have more.

Also can't stand all the goady questions about who should pay/should we cut free nursery places etc? I mean there are a few sensible suggestions like increased wealth tax and corporation tax, to benefit society as a whole and reduce the wealth gap... Rather than constantly hiking up taxes on income.

£221 a week / £11k untaxed and hopefully by then no mortgage or rent looks generous - especially if you add in private pensions.

i think smp should be income related.

Employers cannot claim the whole of SMP back, it was changed to 92% ages ago.

My company advertise that they offer "enhanced" maternity pay.

Instead of 6 weeks @ 90% then 33 weeks at SMP, it's....

4 weeks @ 100%, 2 weeks @ 90% and 33 weeks at SMP

Will be reading the ins & outs of policies if I can before my next job!!!!!

@anonhop i had a similar package in my last job! Ime it’s really hard to find out what the mat leave is in most jobs until you… start the job, which is really frustrating. Would be good to see some legislation that meant jobs had to make their full benefit package accessible in an interview process. Somehow, even as a person who takes feminism seriously in the workplace, I don’t want to ask about mat pay in an interview!

Completely agree with a rule about making benefits transparent!

Yes, it's bad enough being a young woman, in my case married (using Mrs + wearing a ring) where I can tell they're thinking "about to pop off for a year and have a baby". I think if I asked about Mat leave packages I'd never be considered!

Not saying I totally agree with OP but I do think transparency is always way forward

I agree with you OP. Yes, in an ideal world you’d save and save to cover SMP, but that’s not always realistic or possible. DS was a surprise in an already heightened period of financial outgoings (we’d just got married days before finding out I was pregnant and had booked and agreed for work to be done on the house immediately following the wedding) and then we had to foot the upfront costs of preparing for a baby with no time to save for anything else. I was very lucky and got enhanced maternity pay (6 months full then onto SMP). We managed to put some money aside during my first 6 months to top up the SMP, but in reality my maternity income was needed to pay bills elsewhere as DHs income didn’t cover all our mortgage and bills. My family helped us out for the last couple of months, which I realise isn’t possible for everyone and we were very fortunate as it gave me a extra couple of months off with DS or I’d have had to go back at 6 months instead of 9. We even asked about taking a mortgage break to help financially. Honestly it’s made me realise just how unrealistic SMP is. And childcare fees are astronomical so not a chance could we have had DC2 and manage those on maternity pay. Already agreed DS needs to be in school before we even consider DC2. If I ever look for another job I won’t even consider an employer that doesn’t offer the enhanced maternity pay as we just couldn’t cope financially. Although as pp have said most companies don’t advertise it until you’re in the role!

Well you are talking hypothetical here what of you needed a&e well I'm managed to my adult life without needing it. Or if something happened and I needed the police or fire brigade... noone knows if there will be a situation when I need to call on those but judging I have managed my adult life without the need to I think it's safe to say it's unlikely.

I paid for uni myself aa there was no free uni for me. My education up to 16 was paid by the state and it's not a decision I had control over.

So not much of a hypocrite if my education is the only thing to date.

Surely you can’t be this naive, you’ve managed without a medical emergency until now, so it’s unlikely you’ll ever use it? That’s preposterous. Likewise with emergency services. You can’t be serious with this statement. If someone stole your car, you’d call the police. If you had an appendicitis you’d go to an and e. If you were in a car accident, you’d like use all 3 emergency services.

you’re young now, you won’t be forever, increasing age increases the propensity of using those pesky publicly funded services.

well you could’ve gone to private school? If we want to be pedantic.

I wouldn't be. No!

As I understand it SMP can be claimed back from HMRC.

I''dgo along with making SMP income related if higher earners were taxed more.

Why should low paid street sweepers and carers pay more tax so that higher earners can get more money?