Maternity pay

[detoke]

Hi all,

So I got this Job 3 weeks ago working in IT for 29k plus tax a year.

The contract of the job states that maternity pay will be 90% of my monthly salary PRE-TAX (for the first 6 weeks) to be split weekly which would amount to £501 a week.

However, after that, I will receive standard maternity pay which is £139 a week. I am not pleased by this cos I feel that is not going to be enough!

Reason I said this (Before any judgements lol) is I am the breadwinner of my home, My husband is a free lancer for now and jobs are very hard to get at the moment and I have a 3 year old too.

People get their maternity pay as per full wages for a few months at least.

Will I be able to get housing benefits and all that on maternity with this amount? my bills are too high for such an amount. I feel it makes no sense.

and the £139 is for the following 33 weeks (making it 39 weeks I get paid in total)

Are you pregnant already? If so your employer may not have to pay maternity pay at all, I think there's a 12 week qualifying period usually... if this was the case you'd get maternity allowance. Unsure about other benefits but if you didn't qualify before you were pregnant, can't imagine you would afterwards. If you're the breadwinner, could you not return to work after a few months and let your partner take the remaining parental leave?

That seems odd, SMP is £145.18 now and goes up in April. Where did they get £139 from?

I doubt you’ll get much other help apart from child benefit on £29k.

Did you not look at their maternity package when choosing the job though?

I get 6 weeks full pay inc SMP, 12 weeks half pay plus SMP and will have 1 months holiday pay. So not too bad but not brilliant. I am using savings to fund mat leave-that’s what most people have to do really.

Thats SMP, what most people get. Any benefits would depend on household income so what your husband is earning, but in general you are expected to survive on that, yes. You could try inputting your figures for different scenarios into one of the benefit checkers online like Entitledto.

Depending on how long you are off and where your maternity falls in the tax year you may get a tax refund.

You could start saving to cover the shortfall in income.

The £139 is the old amount for SMP, they probably just haven't updated their policy with the new figure.

SMP is shit. are you pregnant already? you may only get MA

Hi @mclady Im not pregnant yet but I am actively trying and would like a balanced financial life by the time I am pregnant. I don't usually stay at home and have been worked ever since I had my 3 year old (went back to work a month and a half after her birth) hence why I thought a break was needed. After seeing this though, doubt I will be taking that break

@Megan2018 I googled it and it says SMP is £139.58. Lucky you that you get 6 weeks full pay inc SMP, 12 weeks half pay plus SMP. My job is saying its 90% of the weekly earnings pre-tax OR SMP (whichever is higher) for the first 6 weeks and then just SMP for 33 weeks after that.

If you're already pregnant you won't get it anyway as you've not been there long enough. You'll have to claim maternity allowance from the government and then you don't get the 90% element . The figures you quote are the 2018 tax year SMP and it's the same for everyone so you're not going to get any more just because you don't think it's enough.

@dirtystinkyrats my wages at the moment is literally JUST enough to cover our bills :( but yeah, I'll check what I am entitled to. I guess a PP said so too, that SMP is now £145 a week.

@babysharkah I know right? I wonder how they expect u to pay your bills on that though and look after a baby?

I suggest you Google the rules for being entitled to full SMP because you need to have been there for a considerable number of months before you're entitled to it from your employer. We had a girl recently who missed out by 10 days. It's something like 9 months so if you're already actively trying to get pregnant you're not going to be entitled if you catch imminently.

That’s the legal minimum they have to provide. Some companies offer more, most don’t. I don’t think you’ll qualify for benefits as you’re seen as still working when on mat leave. If you’re not already pregnant then I’d suggest you start looking at what you can save per month to bolster Mat pay for when you are pregnant.

It’s shit but that’s the way it is. You could try a different job but most places don’t publish their mat policy before you join.

As everyone has said that is the legal minimum (although they are slightly out on the figures but that's probably just due to crap policy writing).

I work for a multinational company, earn twice that and still get paid SMP. It's crap but they don't have to pay you more.

@GinisLife it's employed by the company for 26 weeks before your 15th week of pregnancy. So don't start trying until you've been with a company 12 weeks.

It is crap, but that's the legal requirement. Most people save up to afford, I guess - we did.

This is the official info on SMP
www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/pay

It goes up to £148.68 from April 19

As you aren't pregnant now I'd look for an employer that offers better mat pay and not TTC until you meet their qualifying criteria. At the end of the day if you can't afford it now, then you shouldn't be TTC. It is either that or save like mad now.

I know that is hard - I'm almost 41 and found myself unexpectedly pregnant recently (it is a welcome surprise) but unfortunately last year we ploughed all of our savings into a house move. I am now desperately working out how to scrape together enough to cover mat leave as I am also the main earner.

As this is possibly my only chance to have a child I don't mind the slight panic - as I know long term we'll be ok - it's just unfortunate timing that 8 months ago I had £60k is savings to fall back on and now I am struggling to find £10k!

The amount that they are offering is just SMP - as in, 90% or the SMP rate, whichever is lower, for 6 week followed by 33 weeks SMP rate (or actually, your earnings if they are lower than the SMP rate). That whole calculation there is SMP - I’m sure you’ve looked at this already but just including for reference.

I know it doesn’t sound great, but unfortunately this is the offer in a lot of businesses (I think the majority?) and all that is legally required to offer. An enhanced offer varies across sectors and organisations and is part of the appeal for a lot of women (who intend to have children) to join particular organisations, it is part of the overall reward package.

It might be an idea to look for a role in your field in an organisation than enhances maternity whilst you’re intending to have children. Eg if your job is an IT role, you could consider looking at an IT role in a government department (as most government departments enhance maternity), or perhaps other IT firms have a better offer, and so on.

Got distracted and now cross posted with lots of others sorry!

If you cant save at the moment then either you will need to go back to work early or you need to cut your bills. Comparing utility bills, cash back sites, just cut back in general. Don't forget you can factor in that you won't have travel/commuting costs while on mat leave. If your older child is already 3 when do they start school? You might be able to cut their hours at nursery to just those covered by funded hours to cut your childcare bill dramatically while on Mat leave.

Also don't forget you continue to accrue holiday while you are on maternity, you could try and save as much holiday as possible to attach to your maternity leave.

Or if your partner is freelance, does it make more financial sense for him to do most of the childcare etc and you go back to work? Or would he be willing to look for a job for the next couple of years? There are options.

If dad isn't working much it might make sense for him to take the leave and claim the money when you go back to work. I wouldn't like it but it's an option. Save anything he brings in in the mean time so you can stay off as long as possible, then let him take over shared parental leave.

I am now pregnant, but single. I'm lucky to have wonderfully supportive parents and have been invited to stay with my mum until I finish maternity leave so that I do not have to rush back to work. I don't know what I would do otherwise!

At my place, it's 6 weeks of 90%, 12 weeks of 50% plus SMP (but not over a total of 90% and only if you have been there a certain length of time and will be back for at least 3 months), then SMP to a total of 33 weeks.

I had to work at my job for 1 year before being entitled to the enhanced maternity package so worth checking OP