Is it enough money to live?

[henrythesloth]

Hi all, I’m about to start my maternity leave in one months and feel a little bit upset because of the money. My husband and I live in Leatherhead. Rent is £1200 and on the top of that - bills. His monthly income is £2800, mine is £1900. All was fine until now. I’m not sure how will it work when I go on mat leave. My company only provides SMP which is pennies. Husband is saying he cannot earn more - other companies offer the same salary as he already has got. No savings, no backup plan. Any advice? Feel so upset.

SMP and benefits increase in April too slightly but a little.

UC calculated monthly would work out as below:

• Std Allce 617.60
• Child £287.92
• Housing _£1129.76_
• TOTAL £2035.28- This is Max UC, in effect what the law says you need to live on.

SMP converted to monthly is £797.46 plus husbands take home £2799.98 = £3597.44.
You keep the first £404 as a work allowance leaving £3193.44 of which 55% (£1756.39) is deducted from Max UC giving a monthly payment of £278.89

I would definitely do the benefits calculator online, my husband earns similar to yours and I am currently on smp, we rent and are receiving around £250 a month universal credit which in definitely grateful for. We do have 2 children but no childcare costs even if you get £100 it will help

Calculators like Entitledto and Turn2Us are good provided you get the input right which can be problematic.

I also find Entitledto's printed reports a pain to follow but maybe that's me.

First of all get that debt paid off that will help massively. I won’t ask why you haven’t saved or sorted things throughout pregnancy. You can probably take the 39 weeks smp and then add your annual leave on the end.
You will end up with about 10 months off

Yep dont worry il pay towards it .

If you are “care worker…working 55hrs a week…for peanuts” it is unlikely you are a net contributor so it is unlikely you are paying for anyone’s benefits.

Oh of course i will be and so will my partner who is in the highest tax bracket so do not worry . We'l just carry on letting people pop kids out left right and centre who don't actually consider how they will pay for it all , and then people on the internet will happily guide them straight to the benefit system 👏

Someone earning ‘peanuts’ is not a net contributor. Whether their DH is, is a different matter since it is a whole different person.

Dont be silly now .

I’m not the one being ‘silly’. You on the other hand…

Many people don't realise the sacrifices that have to be made until they themselves have to do it. We had years of not going on holiday, of cutting our own hair and of having to buy our children's Christmas presents from charity shops.
People wouldn't necessarily have known it at the time or think it now, as we are past the days of maternity leaves and childcare costs, and are relatively comfortable. But it was tough for a while. You just need to get on with it.

Exactly

@cloudytime
Il leave this here for you as you are as irritating as this thread.

A carer being paid peanuts is not a net contributor. The higher earning DP may be, but the individual claiming to earn peanuts isn’t.

What is ‘irritating’ is someone who claims to be paid peanuts also claiming to pay towards others benefits.

It is annoying when UC is referred to in some circumstances. With the monthly income and outgoings uou have had i don't think u should be asking. It is not a bottomless treasure chest. It has to be paid for by tax payers.

OP, it sounds like this is a great opportunity to get a real handle on your finances as a couple so that you can move forward. You haven’t saved, and you have overspent, but you can’t undo that, the important thing is that you want to change your situation. Make sure you have your partners full cooperation with this, too often having a baby is seen as the mothers cost, including childcare and cost to their career while the dad carries on regardless. You are a team and have joint financial responsibility.

You need to fill in a budget spreadsheet like the one on Money Saving expert website. List ALL expenditure, monthly and weekly. All big and little bills. This will show you how much you currently need a month to live off of and what you need to cut back on.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/budget-planning/#spreadsheet

If I were you I think I would be confident that I had adequate income for the next 9 months (as previous posters have shown you will get a decent income in total, plus you may also get a company bonus if that’s usual for you and holiday pay) but I would be worried about childcare costs going back to work. You need a new version of the budget for that. How will you pay for childcare? This could be a huge proportion of your joint income.

I also recommend you get a budget / spending app such as Snoop or YNAB which keeps a tally of your total assets and debt categorises all spending

I paid tax all my life. I think when I have hard times, country need to help me, as I contributed a lot.

The country are helping you, they're paying you £9k to have 9 months off work with your baby, it is absolutely widely advertised that SMP is this rate. I've had SMP only maternity leaves twice, lost over £1,000 a month each time in comparison to normal wages, people save for these things. Surely this isn't a shock?

Me message was a response to another user saying her husband is paying for my maternity leave and other benefits.

@henrythesloth are you saying that £2600 after rent isn't enough for you to live on???

Hello - I live there too!

It will be tough, but honestly you'll manage. We were in a similar situation to you, but my husbands income was lower than yours.

Do you know about b@titude in Leatherhead? It is absolutely amazing for baby clothes and other essentials and so cheap (eg less than £10 for a pushchair).

Thank you a lot! I will have a look.

My math:
DH salary - £2800
SMP after 6 weeks - around £700 after tax if not even less
Total income: £3500 - rent £1200 - council tax £200 - water, electricity, phone bills around £150 - transport (DH needs to travel to work to London by train) £200 = £1750. And yes, for us it is small amount of money as we spend a lot on food, activities and days out. Of course, now I understand that we will need to forget about some fun staff at least until I go back to work.

Genuine question - have you given any thought to the cost of childcare after you return to work?!