Maternity pay has gone too far

[EasterIssland]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c781m9v4255o

apologies if there is another thread about it.
havent seen one.

im lucky enough to have a good salary that would allow me saving beforehand . Statutory maternity pay would mean around 20-30% of my salary. Is this too far? It’s one of the many reasons why we decided to only have one. I felt really vulnerable when I was on maternity leave and didn’t feel I kept having spare cash every month. I do understand what she means tho , the sooner we’re back the less we get from the government and more taxes we pay. Coming from a woman hurts even more not being recognised the sacrifices we do whilst we are on maternity leave

I think the reason women used to have more kids before maternity pay was because there wasn’t much access to contraception!

Also when she says it’s taking money from people in work and giving it to those not working, well only people who work get maternity pay so essentially we’re paying for ourselves over time.

Blimey.

Amazing how quickly people believe the misinformation spewed by the media

I wonder why no one ever thinks to google and see what was actually said.

You'd think that women on Mumsnet might fact check a woman that had three kids whilst in office. I wonder why they don't

If they increased the ability for fathers to take paternity leave and potentially split it to take at a later time (eg shared parental leave) then it might make it easier for women to return to work earlier.

i don’t think maternity pay has gone too far but I think it should probably be higher at first and then taper off more from 6 months. 6 months is enough if a secondary care giver can take time off at that stage or alternatively if more nursery places become available and the funding kicks in at 6 months.

I took 6 months maternity leave, I exclusively breastfed and continued to do so when I returned (not easy, but possible via expressing and preparing with freezer stash) and this was due to my husband taking 3 months when I returned to work. It has done us the world of good as a family and our household is more balanced than friends and colleagues where the mother took a full year

@SometimesCalmPerson
I've worked all my life from I was legally able to. Paid taxes, National insurance etc etc and into a pension so as I don't drain the pot, if I'm lucky enough to see old age/ retirement!

The least I could get back is a wee bit of financial support when I'm out of work raising children, especially when there are people getting support for nothing!!

Yes, I have twice. I went back to work at five months then six months and was lucky that I was able to start with half days and build up. If all employers were made to be flexible and there were enough decent childcare options available, I don’t think it would be a massive problem.

In what way do you feel she was misrepresented?

“We need to have more personal responsibility - there was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies."

She said: "Maternity pay varies, depending on who you work for - but statutory maternity pay is a function of tax, tax comes from people who are working.
"We’re taking from one group of people and giving to another. This, in my view, is excessive.

She was then asked if this meant "maternity pay is excessive".
Badenoch said: "I think it's gone too far - too far the other way in terms of general business regulation."

If I was a Conservative Party member, which I’m not, I wouldn’t vote for her solely for this comment. This kind of bullshit is electoral suicide.

I agree with this- if there were enough decent childcare options (or incentive for the second parent to take leave rather than statutory on shared parental leave) then I think 6 months is sufficient. I also managed to exclusively breastfeed and returned at 6 months. Managed to continue feeding until my boy was 2 and a half!

If we can't compete with Croatia in terms of maternity pay, then something has clearly gone awry. I don't expect us to match an economic powerhouse like Sweden, with 56 weeks paid at 80 percent of citizens’ salary, and 13 additional weeks paid at a fixed rate thereafter, because that would mean having to tax the rich a tiny bit more.

Well done for sitting it off early to suit the position that's trying to be pushed.

Challenged on saying maternity pay is "excessive", the former minister said: "I think it's gone too far, too far the other way, in terms of general business regulation, we need to allow businesses, especially small businesses, to make more of their own decisions.

"The exact amount of maternity pay, in my view, is neither here nor there. We need to make sure that we are creating an environment where people can work and people can have more freedom to make their individual decisions."

She never said the amount was excessive.. that's the narrative being pushed by those who are against Kemi.

So your solution would be to discourage childbirth rather than train up new doctors or build new houses and schools? What's that going to achieve when we have a higher proportion of elderly to those young enough to work/care for them?

Badenoch is a typical nasty Tory who can't see the bigger picture and always needs someone to point the finger at/fault.

How did you manage that while ebf? At 5 months babies should be fed on demand. Your baby went without milk or food all morning while you were at work? Not a chance that would have worked for me and my colicky baby. Not everyone has babies that would be possible for. You should count yourself lucky and not expect other mothers to do what you did.

Oh to be an Estonian mama right now...

My youngest was born very premature and spent five weeks in NICU...so that set up wouldn't have worked for me either.

What a load of nonsense. She’s quoted as saying:

Statutory maternity pay is a function of tax, tax comes from people who are working. We’re taking from one group of people and giving to another.

Women who take maternity leave are working. They’re taxpayers. A great many of them will return to work and continue to pay tax. The relatively low amount of SMP doesn’t make them not taxpayers.

She said: "Maternity pay varies, depending on who you work for - but statutory maternity pay is a function of tax, tax comes from people who are working.
"We’re taking from one group of people and giving to another. This, in my view, is excessive.”

This is the bit I find most objectionable. Attempting to pit people against each other. In reality of course, working women who maybe take up to two years out of a forty year long career are paying into the system, not taking from it.

They obviously haven't. You need longer than that off!

Wouldn't of worked for mine either

I don’t think 9 months is excessive but I don’t think it should be more than that either. Especially not 1-2 years.

What if they can't afford to live on one income for 6 months? Perhaps if people didn't have to borrow 10 x their salary to buy a house or pay 40% of their income on rent, they'd be able to save a bit more for maternity leave. As it is, most people need 2 incomes to survive.

Realistically though there is a very small percentage of babies are fully breastfed at 9 months.

It's a great " improvement" on how it used to be. I remember 16 weeks max when I had DD1. Although for low earners they are probably no worse off on maternity pay then being at work and paying childcae

She should ask Boris how many various women have claimed SMP for his offspring.

Seriously though she needs to back off on this one. Many women have been taxpayers for decades before receiving SMP and it's bloody insulting she's implying otherwise. Plus a falling birth rate surely means SMP payments are dwindling every year anyway!!

i managed it with a breast pump, bottles and a fridge.

I do consider myself fortunate, but my circumstances weren’t exceptional.

Quite.
i have Hungarian neighbours and they were telling me about maternity benefits in their country (summary below). It’s so comprehensive compared to the U.K. I just don’t get how we have gone so wrong in this country, we seem to actively hate families and children and only care about getting everyone back to work asap as if that’s all that matters. I believe we can fund better family policies, we just need an overhaul of our tax system.

Maternity Leave
Women have 24 weeks of maternity leave but can take up to three years of leave and receive maternity benefits.
For the first six months, mothers are entitled to Pregnancy and Confinement Benefit (CSED) at a rate of 70.00% of the salary. For the next eighteen months until the child’s second birthday, mothers are entitled to a Child Care Fee (Gyermekgondozási díj – GYED) at a rate of 70.00% of the salary up to a maximum of double the minimum wage.
A benefit called Child Home Care Allowance (Gyermekgondozási segély – GYES) is also available for parents or grandparents taking care of a child up to the age of three. The benefits are paid by the National Health Insurance Fund of Hungary (NEAK).
The family allowance is available to entitled individuals and the rate of the allowance is dependent upon the number of dependents and beneficiary dependents. This allowance has been increased from 2023 if one of the beneficiary dependents is seriously disabled or permanently ill.

I think pearl clutching about leaving babies aged 6-9 months doesn't really get the point across to people who spout nonsense like her as they will just point out the short leave in the US.

It's ridiculous of course as wide reaching effects will cost far more. It would plunge many families into poverty at a time when food bank usage is at a high, children growing up in 'heat or eat' households are less likely to be economically active themselves in adulthood. Given the link between development aged 2 and future outcomes some children in lower socioeconomic groups would never be able to reach their full potential.

DV and women's charities would be even more overwhelmed with women who had no money to call their own in the postpartum period which is a vulnerable time for abuse.

Abortion rates would go up as couples for whom previously a pregnancy would have been a happy accident would become a financial liability.

The birth rate would fall outside of religious households.

I really don't know who this was supposed to appeal to.

And as others have pointed out, it's also offensive as I consider my own taxes paid my maternity leave!