MATERNITY PAY

[adanic84]

Hi everyone,

Just wondering how you guys cope on maternity pay. My husband and I have one child, but thankfully, we lived with my mum when I was on maternity leave as our house was not ready at the time. At the moment, we would love to have another child but there is no way we will cope financially with me being on maternity pay, which is £139.58 a week or less after the first 6 weeks. We both work full-time and work opposite shifts due to being unable to afford childcare. This is why I started a petition to make maternity pay 90% of your average weekly earnings for 39 weeks. Please show your support by signing the petition. I takes less than a minute...
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/172336

Is this serious? Do you really believe it should be paid that high for that life no as you don't want to have a reduction in income or save for maternity leave?

90% of any salary? That's not going to work.

What business could operate with those costs? What you would do is ensure women of a childbearing age would become virtually unemployable due to the costs.
Who are you expecting to pay for this?

Sorry i empathise with your situation but won't be signing the petition.

We afforded ML because my husband earned enough to support us all. Realise I'm very lucky. Lots of friends of mine afforded it because they had jobs that paid up to 100% for up to six months.

I think maternity pay could be better. Some companies pay enhanced maternity packages. I think it's probably best to save up enough to cover the shortfall whilst you are on mat leave. I also think we are quite lucky to get what we do in the Uk ( although some other countried pay much better of course). When I had my first 2 dc's we lived abroad and I got no pay from the day I left work until the day I returned when my boys were 4 and 5 months old. Now that was tough !!

Gosh 90% salary? Paid for by the employer or tax payer? I saved up to cover the shortfall in my maternity pay. Surely that's sensible.

I'm sorry but I won't be signing
I don't think it's workable

Maybe you could have saved some money and used your savings?

Not really workable, who would pay this? The employer or the government?

We saved, hard, for maternity leave, knowing that our income would take a massive hit.

Women are already massively disadvantaged in the workplace and job markets, this will make it worse.

You save if you want another that bad.