Maternity pay

[Maria89]

Hi there,

I’m sorry if this is against any rules or anything but I just feel so overwhelmed and don’t really have anyone I’m able to ask for advice. I’ve just found out I’m 6 weeks pregnant and at nearly 32 I don’t really want to end the pregnancy like I have done before in my younger years. The problem being, we have no family near by, I’m the one with the career and my partner works 2 jobs. We also live in a 1 bed city centre flat that we rent and my partner is in a lot of debt. We also have zero savings.

The reason for posting is, I can’t quite make head or tail of the UK maternity pay guidelines. I currently earn 2000k before tax and want to know if I’d only get £151.20 a week after the first 6 week of maternity? That’s seems incredibly low, whereas if it was around 90% of what I usually take home after tax, it’s be around £380?!

Help would be massively appreciated. I’m in quite a bit of turmoil over this. It’s incredibly sad we’re having to make a choice based on affordability, especially at my age :(

Thank you and please no judgement.

It really depends on where you work. I work for a council so I got last time and will be getting again 6 weeks at 90%, 12 weeks at SMP plus half my normal pay, then everything there after at SMP.

Maybe speak to your HR department to see what they offer

I'm assuming you've done this but if not the first thing to do is check your employer's maternity policy - do they offer enhanced pay? If not yes - SMP is £151.20 after the first 6 weeks. You'll also be eligible for child benefit of £21.05 a week

Check your work contract incase you d get enhanced pay but otherwise yes that's the statutory maternity pay amount and if your income is under 50k you d get child benefit and you could possibly get universal credit if your partner earns much less.

You ve got time to come up with a plan to clear your partner's debt a bit and save a bit of an emergency fund, don't panic you could make a bit of a dent in the space of 6 months+ before you d take maternity leave. is moving to a cheaper area an option for you? Or could you take less maternity leave and your partner be responsible for childcare?

Money saving expert is a nice forum for advice on debt, you might be able to find places you can make cut backs that you hadn't realised before.

You're describing statutory maternity pay so, yes, that's what you'll get unless your company offers a better maternity package (in which case you'll get that, but probably subject to restrictions about returning to work after the baby).

Remember you have 34 weeks to build up some savings!

You'll also need to factor in the cost of childcare when you return to work, so you do need to consider how you will afford that, if you're currently spending every penny you have.

Hi there,

Thank you so much for your replies already!

Apologies, yes I was referring to stat maternity pay, I checked my companies policy and there’s only 2 lines in the handbook stating ‘The company will provide employees with their maternity entitlement and benefits as per their statutory rights, as amended from time to time’ - I therefore assume this is only standard stat pay?

I’d like to ask HR but there’s only 1 lady who’s currently out of office and the problem being, I may then decide to terminate and feel very silly for asking? I know it also shouldn’t harm any future promotions but that’s in the back of my head.

In terms of renting, we only pay £625 which is the lowest we’ve ever paid, it’s also shared ownership which we’d like to work towards one day. It’s only myself who can get credit so I wouldn’t want to move for the time being as it was v stressful finding somewhere.

My partner isn’t paying their debts at the moment and is currently at 9k so starting to pay would make us less better off, If that makes any sense!

But totally with having a while to save, I’m lucky enough to be able to put a little aside each month if we decide to go ahead.

Another HUGE worry, is childcare when I return to work after the 9 months, I don’t know how we’d even begin to afford full time care!

Thanks again all :)

In terms of childcare there are government schemes to help with that (not sure how it works as we're on the old voucher system). Could you potentially do compressed hours so you wouldn't lose pay but would need less days in childcare?

If you can't survive on mat pay (understandable) have you considered shared parental leave? You would go back to work and you would sign over a block of leave to your partner. You need to check if he meets the eligibility criteria though.

If all the company offer is statutory then yes you get 90% of your average weekly pay for the first 6 weeks then 151 a week for the remainder. I'm on it at the moment. Its not great.

Based on that wording it seems that your employer offers SMP only and no enhanced contractual maternity pay.

So your salary is £24k/year (£2000/month before tax). How much does your partner earn? If you earn significantly more than him, perhaps you could take a shortish maternity leave (3 months maybe?) and he could take parental leave for the rest (6 months or so).

Based on your finances, you'll almost certainly be entitled to Universal Credit after baby is born. You could use an online benefit calculator (entitledto or Turn2Us) to work out how much. And when you both return to work and use childcare, you can get up to 85% of childcare costs covered by UC.

Why is your partner not paying anything towards his debts? He really needs to seek debt advice from Citizens Advice, National Debtline or Stepchange. They will look at his finances and go through the options with him. A Debt Relief Order might be a possibility but there are other options too.

PS I note that you refer to your partner as "they" and not "he", I wouldn't usually assume that someone's partner is Male/female, but in this case logic and biology dictate that it must be a man?!

Hi Emma,

Sorry I wasn’t clear at all was I. He actually earns 1600-1700 after tax but has to work 7 days a week (2 jobs) to achieve this. They’re just jobs to pay the bills whereas mine is a career (although a little late to the game at my age, hence the lower starting wage, this should be significantly more in years to come/job switches etc)

I would also rather take the full maternity myself so I can bond with the child properly, plus it being my first.

He’s not paying his debts at the moment as he just doesn’t see how paying £50 here and there would make a good enough dent. Not exactly my thinking but just passing on the info you asked for!

Would any of you actually advise me asking HR if they DO offer any increased maternity at that stage, or would that be silly considering I’m eating up my options. It’s a chicken egg (excuse the pun) situation I guess.

Cheers!

"He’s not paying his debts at the moment as he just doesn’t see how paying £50 here and there would make a good enough dent."

🙄

He needs proper debt advice as I said. If he's eligible for a DRO then he could actually get the debts written off but there are implications including for his credit score (it's probably incredibly low anyway!)

I advise against tying yourself to him financially whether through marriage or joint debts (mortgage/other).

What does he spend his money on if he's not paying off his debts? Does he have an alcohol, drug, gambling or spending habit? Will you be able to rely on him to contribute his (higher) share of the bills when you're on maternity leave?

To answer your question; no there's no need to ask HR since the information is in your contract; your employer offers SMP only. If there's an employee handbook and/or parental leave policy you could check.

I completely agree. I was lucky enough to have my family back home lend me the 5k to start paying off my own debts that I’d accumulated over the years when I was younger, I’ve now been paying this back to them for over a year and a half. It feels like a huge weight lifted and I’ve now been able to get my credit in a good enough place to rent in my own name (rather than relying on past partners). He does have a gambling problem but he promised me it’s not out of control, I do think it is as he had to ban himself from his accounts a year or so ago. It’s a hard situation.

He also doesn’t want to get married to me anyway, so no risk with inheriting the debt per se.

Just for background, I’ve been with my partner for 5 years now. He’s 28, so I’m only a little older at 31, nearly 32.

Oh dear
I wouldn't have a child with a man who has a gambling problem and ~£9k debts that he's not bothering to pay off.
If you do want to continue the pregnancy you need to do so on the basis that you will have to financially support yourself and your child without any guaranteed help from him; anything he does contribute will be a bonus.
Not much of a partnership though is it

It wouldn’t do any harm to ask HR if they could confirm what the maternity entitlement is. Lots of work places offer a break down to show how much money you’d get over the time period which could be useful.

Although not ideal you could go back earlier. With my eldest I had 6 months full pay but he was late so only had 5 at home with him then had to go back because we couldn’t afford for me to drop to SMP. He had a wonderful nursery experience and we have a fantastic bond.

Thank you all for your advice :)

Yep 151 a week but you have 9months to save up, which is what most people do! And both of you should save by the way!!!Plus you'll get child benefit.

But yeah I agree with PP - if he has £9k debts I'd say his gambling problem is absolutely out of hand

If he is serious about doing something about the debt, then he should contact a charity like step change.
I’d suggest building up as much savings as possible, in your name, if you’re only on SMP then taking shared parental leave, and afterwards he then becomes the stay-at-home parent if you’ve got a promising career to return to.
At this point, it would be worth him declaring himself bankrupt with £0 income to clear all his debts, and start afresh.
Once they’re are a bit older, or your career improves to the point of it becoming financially viable to purchase childcare, he can the get back into the job market

I'm not sure where to start with this.

• Your 'D'P doesn't want to marry you, has a gambling problem and is thousands of pounds in debt. Particularly now you are pregnant, I would be expecting him to sort this immediately - I recommend Christians Against Poverty for impartial free advice and debt plans - you don't have to be Christian. In the meantime, I would be keeping finances completely separate as this debt and his attitude could very negatively impact your and your child's future.
• You've had abortions before and you're now nearly 32. I will not comment on what you should do.
• Re SMP. Yes it's low. Most people save heavily in advance. Having a child itself can be cheap but it was more expensive than I'd anticipated and I'm a major planner. For example, I'd intended to exclusively BF for 6 months, despite trying I didn't make enough milk. On top of pumps etc I then ended up having to buy bottles, steriliser etc. My son had dietary needs where the dietician recommended a specific milk. For the bits we paid for (some was on prescription) his milk alone costs us £80 a month.
• Childcare. I only took 6 months mat leave. (I know you say you want longer but it sounds like you can't afford it tbh.) We use the 20% tax free childcare scheme. My DH and I also both compress hours so DS is only in nursery 3 days a week. I would look into whether your employer really supports flexible working.
• I'd be interested to know what your new career is. IME most decent careers offer you more than SMP once you've been there long enough. It may be too late to shop around now though.
• Accommodation. A 1 bed flat is absolutely fine for the first year - most people keep baby in their room for 6 months anyway. But you need to consider what you'd do going forwards - have you got a spare living room for example you can turn into an extra bedroom? With your 'D'P's debt etc it doesn't sound like moving will be easy.

"At this point, it would be worth him declaring himself bankrupt with £0 income to clear all his debts, and start afresh."
No it really wouldn't! This is why he needs to talk to a qualified debt adviser and not take debt advice from randoms on the internet.
It is very rare that bankruptcy is the best option. There are many other options to consider.

I feel I’m being judged a little here now.

I came on here to ask for advice on my situation not particularly how my partner can get out of debt. I am not oblivious to the help out there, I have used it myself.

You can lead a dog to water but you certainly can’t make them drink it...

Thanks anyway

No judgement here, just sympathy. I understand that you can't control what he does; only your own decisions about what to do.

Best of luck, it's not an easy decision. If you are not sure whether to continue the pregnancy you could contact BPAS or Marie Stopes as they usually offer counselling to help you decide.

Hang on, was that a typo or you earn £200,000?

I see you mean £20! I did wonder why people were talking about child benefit!

Yes, you’d have around £170 a week with SMP and CB on top.

You can also have KIT days (keeping in touch)

Childcare is hideously expensive but it’s not forever