Advice on maternity leave

[cupcakegirl22]

Hi guys, I really need advice on how to cope financially on maternity leave. I privately rent which is £1300 and I’m a single parent to 3 children. My upcoming pay from SMP is going to be £873, so I’m very worried about paying my rent + other bills. I do get UC, but it’s still not enough to cover my rent and bills. My rent also comes out before I get paid the UC.

I was due to go back to work in April, but the nursery I applied for say they won’t be able to accommodate my baby then. The nursery is on my work site and I work at a hospital, so I have to start at 7:15 am and the nursery is from 7am. I know not many nurseries start that early, which is why I could only apply for that one. I have no family or anyone to help either. So now I’m feeling really stressed and worried, is there anything else I can do? I’ve applied for council house (will be impossible) and applied for discretionary housing benefit too. How are single parents on mat leave coping? This seems insane to survive. Any tips/ ideas greatly appreciated!

Can you move closer to work or learn to drive?

Deleted because that thread was from January 2025.
It's good that was resolved and that you have your children back.

1. CMS
2. Kindly…why did you choose to have a baby with a man like this? A man who is capable of dropping the mother of his child and blocking her? Surely as a non-driver, you knew about the lack of backup childcare options, that you work fixed hours w/o options to move job/hours. Did you consider your existing children and their need for secure housing and their reliance you in secure employment?

There isn’t a trick to it really, the only thing that is reliable is saving before maternity leave to cover the shortfall which it’s too late for now.

Definitely apply to CMS, depending on his salary it may not be much but should be better than nothing.

I do think with your start time for work, nursery & transport options you need to look for a new job really.

Have you spoken to your work about this? I work in the private sector, so very different, but I would be thinking things like this:

When will your nursery be able to take your child? Is this a short term problem? Could you arrive later for a while, or use annual leave to cover the short fall.

Or ask for a loan (from work) to cover rent for a month or two.

If a longer term problem a flexible working request.

Also, CMS.

@PhuckTrump we’ve been together for several years now and this has only become a problem since I got my latest pay a few days ago. As soon as I mentioned CMS he totally flipped out, before this he was ok.

I agree that sadly it sounds like, unless you are able to change your hours to fit whatever childcare is available, this job just isn’t going to work for you any more. It’s shit but with no family support or suitable childcare I can’t see you have any other option.

Regarding sickness - you will need to check your employer’s sickness policy. Having been off for a few months your sick pay may only be the same level as your maternity pay (depends how they calculate it) so you would be no better off (and would also then be building up a sickness record which isn’t ideal).

You can’t go off sick just because it suits you financially and even then ssp is low and you would not meet the earnings threshold for more. Have you asked if it is possible to do later shifts only until a place comes up? Or could you go on bank to choose shifts? What time does the nursery open and how did you plan to get the baby there if you need to take such an early bus.