How did you all afford maternity leave??

[lydiaO101]

Hi all!

So I have just found out that I'm pregnant (very happy accident don't get me wrong).

However, myself and my husband have very minimal savings at the minute due to two children already and house renovation.

Myself and my husband early decent salaries but I just get statutory maternity so am already starting to feel stressed about this.

My question really is has anyone been in a similar position? We are due to remortgage Jan 2027 but can do 4 months early so September (when baby is due) so would you remortgage then and borrow more to cover maternity leave? The other option is to get a loan to cover this time.

So sorry for the rambling post but feel like my brain is in overdrive and need to know this will be okay!

Thank you in advance!

Have a look and see when your wages drop to SMP if you'll be entitled to universal credit.

This was a lifeline to me when I was on mat leave, it helped SO much.

Use the entitled to calculator online

How long have you been in your role? Your company could pay you more than the statutory amount.

I am currently on Mat leave, I get 6 months of full pay, then statutory pay for 3 months then nothing for another 3 months if I choose to take the full year.

I am putting some aside from my 6 months full pay to top up my pay when it reduces and will use from savings/husband if I need to.

You could start saving now before your mat leave starts and get a head start.

A UC claim will be limited if you're having a third and are homeowners but it's worth checking.

I had to go into debt (via loan rather than remortgage) when I had my child, we'd saved but had to spend those savings on IVF leaving us nothing spare for mat leave. I lived very frugally during mat leave and worked hard to pay it back once I returned to work, going back 5 days a week for the first 18 months. So no short cuts, just hard saving and hard work basically. You may be in a better position, how long would it take you to get back on an even keel when you return to work? If you can claw back the debt quickly as a high earner you might be better off borrowing via credit card or a separate loan than doing it through a less favourable mortgage.

I saved up. As soon as I knew I was pregnant, I stopped all discretionary spending and saved every penny I could.

Then I had statutary maternity pay.

I changed roles 2years before we started trying to the civil service so I got 6 months full pay. Then both saved as much as we could to cover the 3 months of statutory, then went back at 9 months before the unpaid 3 months

I did the maximum amount of KIT days, which my employer paid on top of statutory mat leave. If your DH's employer offers better benefits, it might be financially better to do shared parental leave, you'll have to compare what you both earn with what each of you would be paid on leave. You also have 8 months to save. Could either of you do any overtime before the baby comes?

I was self employed so only entitled to maternity allowance, which at that time was minimal. It wouldn't even have covered my business expenses to keep the business in existence, let alone given me any money to live on. I therefore didn't take any leave beyond 3 days in hospital (which luckily included a weekend). I worked from home anyway, and just carried on doing as much work as I was able to do around the baby. Once or twice I had to have the baby in meetings with me. Baby started at nursery part-time at 3 months. That year was actually my best earning year.

We saved as much as possible.