Worried about maternity pay

[beaanna]

I know so many others will be in similar positions but I guess I just want a space to vent.

I am on maternity leave currently and sick with worry about how we will manage when I drop to statutory pay (in less than 2 months). It’s £185 a week, less than £800 a month and will be taxed still - for anyone who didn’t know.

We have a mortgage on a semi detached home that we bought while I was pregnant. Interest rates were extremely high but it was that or continue to rent, and we desperately wanted a home of our own to bring our DC up in. There were unexpected costs after moving which meant we haven’t been able to save as much as we hoped and our bills have all gone up which accounts for the majority of the little disposable income we had planned to have while my income is reduced on maternity.

We will from June have anywhere between £150-350 left as disposable per month until I return to work. If we book the short trip we wanted to take our DC on this summer, it will be the lower end of that bracket. That’s for treats for the DC, clothes for the whole family, anything unexpected. I hadn’t planned to go back until late this year but I’m now thinking I may have to bring this forward to late summer, which will affect how long I can breastfeed for. I don’t feel ready to leave baby and we also don’t have any childcare lined up that early and doubt there will be any availability. Refuse to just book any old nursery particularly after that documentary. I am tearing my hair out trying to think of solutions. I knew it would drop lower but I didn’t foresee the unexpected costs and bills going up as much as they have.

WTF can we do? Will it be more doable than I think?

You don’t say how old your baby will be when you originally planned to return to work or now think you might have to.

5 years ago things might have been better. But when I had my children in the 1990s most mothers went back when their babies were 3 months old because maternity pay was so poor.

I managed to wait until mine was 5 months by taking no annual leave in the previous year. Did I want to go back that soon? No of course I didn’t. Did I manage? Yes of course I did.

You should still be able to breastfeed. I built up supplies of expressed milk while on maternity leave and then expressed during the day while I was at work. Even once I had stopped expressing, I continued breastfeeding until she was 18 months.

Depending on your previous earnings you might not be as bad as you think. When I dropped to SMP my tax code went into reverse and I got money back from the tax man as I'd paid it all in the previous months. Also tbh even if you can find suitable childcare, the extra money may not be that much unless you can return to work part time to find a balance.
If you can start trying to express now, you can start to build a freezer stash for whenever you do go back anyway. It's much easier to do smaller amounts than all in a few days I a desperate rush.

I was wondering if you’d factored in child benefit?

Not sure. Don’t think so but we want to put it away

I think that's a laudable aim, but pragmatically as you're worried about SMP then use the child benefit during that period. Once you're back at work you can start saving it again.

I'd also not go on your holiday, you can have some fun free trips eg to the park. I'm guessing your (non-baby) kid/s are young as you said about child-care, so they'll not miss going away.

And I'd also start saving some extra now before your mat pay decreases.

What is your partners package like if you go back to work and they’re off. You can’t afford the holiday, you also can’t afford to put the child benefit away right now, that can wait until you’re both working again.

Theres plenty if time for savings in the future. The first few years are about surviving.

KIT days are paid. You can do 10. I did a couple a month from month 6 onwards to top up my mat pay

I went back at 10.5months rather than a full year for this reason. Things i did in the meantime:

Do my full set of 10 KIT days - it gets added as a full days pay on top of your SMP so topped me up that month quite nicely.
Finish my mat leave "early" and add on all accrued AL. That gave me around an extra 4 weeks at full pay.
Get selling everything no longer needed on vinted.
Definitely no breaks away - we went to stay with family instead so only needed to cover train fare plus a gift / meal out for my DPs to say thank you.

I had been setting aside money whilst pregnant to cover the gap as well but I appreciate not everyone has that luxury. I think you can also consider 0% credit cards (only if you are definitely sure you can pay it back without incurring interest), free baby groups, shopping at Lidl / Aldi for essentials. Luckily summer is the best time for free activities so much better for it to be the case now rather than in the winter.

Going back early shouldn't affect breastfeeding either. You are permitted pumping breaks by law (if you choose to pump). I wasn't bfing by 10months but DD2 refused all formula at nursery and would just have a big bottle before drop off and another one when we came in. I understand lots of bf babies do the same.

When is baby's birthday? If they are 9months before 1st Sept then you can also get your 30 funded hours from when they start nursery, which will massively help as well for rebuilding your savings. We've had three months of paying full price for DD2 before her 15 funded hours kicked in, because she was born 3days after the cut off. Can't wait for Sept and the rest of the funded hours to start, which also coincides with DD1 starting school.

Putting it away once you return to work is great. In the here and now you need nappies.

When I was on mat leave I worked weekend, DH was home for DC and I managed to work Saturday 10-3 and Sunday afternoon. There are options.

You can do this. Think outside of what you normally do.

Can DH increase his earning temporarily? Can you sell on vinted? Can you apply for any benefits?

You might also qualify for a small tax rebate the first month or two depending on your usually pay.

What’s your husband’s parental leave package like? Would it be possible to do Shared Parental Leave for part of your maternity leave?
My DH has a very generous parental leave package whilst mine is crap. I gave up part of my mat leave to go back and he took it as shared parental leave on almost full pay, meaning we had two of our regular incomes for two months and didn’t have to rush the babies to nursery before the year was out as they were with DH during that time.

Do a money makeover to save £100s and potentially £1000s on your outgoings https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help/

No help on the money front but DD started nursery at 10 months when I went back to work, refused a bottle, be it expressed breast milk or formula, and eventually gave up bf when she was 3 😳so not necessarily the end of bf.

Do my full set of 10 KIT days - it gets added as a full days pay on top of your SMP so topped me up that month quite nicely.

it shouldn’t be full pay plus SMP. They can make you up to full pay but shouldn’t be paying you more for a KIT day than you would usually get.

Can you look into a mortgage pause/payment holiday?

You can apply for UC whilst on Mat pay.

I understand how you feel. Why not make a slight adjustment for now. Cancel the holiday for now and re-book when you go back to work. Is there some kind of support you can get from the Government with when your pay reduces?