How did you do Mat leave if the higher earner?

[Mushroo]

Im the higher by a reasonable amount - so the 6 months unpaid is a big big hit to the household finances (about £20k).

we can’t afford to save up £20k in 15 months, is the only option going back to work at 6 months? And DH take off the last 6 months?

I know it’s a nice problem to have but I’d love a year off and if our earnings were the other way round I’d able to :(

I’m the higher earner, although only slightly. I am taking 7 months and my DH taking 5 months of shared parental leave. I wanted to do that with my DS but I wasn’t the higher earner then. My DH is really looking forward to his time with the baby.

I did 4 months maternity and my employer allowed me to use my accrued holiday to cover another month off. So 5 months in total. My DP then did 5 months shared parental leave so we had a month where we were both off before I went back to work.

Luckily we managed to stay within our budget for that time. Initially I was going to have longer off and do Keeping In Touch days to bump up the monthly income a bit. As it was I was happy to go back at 5 months and brought my maternity to an end early.

I know a few couples who did shared parental leave and swapped at around 6/7months.

My DH wasn’t eligible for shared leave so I went back to work after 6 months and DS nursery. He’s got on really well and I’m happy with the choices we’ve made.

I also know people who worked part time for the first few months they went back to work. So a balance of time with baby vs loss of income.

Can you reduce your outgoings for that period too? Pay for things like insurance annually before you go on mat leave. Make all of the big baby purchases again whilst you’re still earning? Take a mortgage holiday or move to 1 car if your usually have 2?

I earn about £30k more than DH which is a significant portion of our income, we saved up about half of what we needed and cut back during my pregnancy and my fully paid first 5 months and we have just about got it all together so I can have a year off with baby. It’s been tight though, and I’ve had to use my accrued holidays too. Were I to have another baby (which we have no plans to do) I would have to accept that I take less time off because there’s no way we’d be able to save it all plus pay for nursery fees.

I took 7 months with #1 and 8 months with #2. DH was self employed then so didn't get any paid paternity leave just took a week or so off at the start. When I went back to work DDs went into wrap around nursery 7.30-6pm 3 days a week, DH and I did SAHP one day each the rest of the time. It was financially a bit pointless when 2 were in nursery as, after travel costs, DH was getting up at 7am and pulling on his chainsaw trousers to work his arse off in the rain till dark for net £5/day, essentially. When covid happened he became a full time SAHP for a while and got the self employed "furlough" payments. Now he works one day/week on my day off ( moved area and both moved jobs since covid) and is an employee again. He also does a bit of extra of consulting/pricing for his company when I have TOIL days for working weekends on call. DD2 gets free preschool hours from September (at the unit attached to DD1's primary school) so we'll probably try to cobble together a bit of lunch club/after school club/childminder hours for the 2 of them so he can work more.

Have you factored in any entitlement to the part of universal credit that used to be child tax credits? I don’t know in detail about UC but under the child tax credit calculation smp was excluded from consideration- so if that is still the case with UC and you are the higher earner you may well be entitled to a substantial chunk.

The other thing to think about is whether you ‘need’ the £20k for that six months, or whether you could get by comfortably enough on a lower total for that year of maternity leave? You may well spend less if you’re not commuting, for example, or be happy to forego some expenses in order to have the time with baby? You may also find that unless DH takes the time off, you would spend everything you gain by going back to work on nursery fees- which is worth it if you’re keen to be back in work, but not if you’re just trying to balance the budget.

Only the last 3 months are unpaid. What sort of maternity package do you get?

Short mat leave of 6-7 months plus shared parental leave.

Sucked it up and went back to work at 12 weeks as wasn't entitled to companies maternity package.

Thank you everyone - lots of helpful suggestions. I get 6 months paid, then 3 months stat and then unpaid.

@PatienceHeatherstone indont think I’ll be entitled to any benefits.

in terms of child benefit, I normally earn too much, but the year I’m on mat leave, I won’t. Can I claim it for the year I’m on mat leave does anyone know?

We are in this situation as I earn nearly double my husband. I am planning on taking 6-8months mat leave (Inc using up accrued annual leave) and then my husband will swap and take shared parental leave for 3months. I get enhanced pay for 6 months (3months @ 100%, then 3 months @50%) and we simply cannot afford for me to stay off for very long once pay drops down to the statutory £150pw. With me returning full time & husband off getting the £150pw, we can cover all our outgoings, plus have some spare for ‘fun’ money without (hopefully!) dipping into savings.