struggling to manage on maternity pay alone

[foxyvixen]

As I currently pay almost £500 a month from wages towards mortgage, bills, food,etc, i'm worrying about how i'm going to cope with these outgoings once I start maternity leave as I'll only be getting SMP - £123.06 a week. does anyone know if you can get help with the cost of living while on maternity leave? don't want to end up getting home repossessed if i can't afford mortgage.

Are you single or married? does your Oh have a job?

no, you can't get help with the cost of living, it is (sorry to be so harsh) something you should have considered before deciding to have a baby

your conmpany will be paying you maternity pay won't it?

Do you have a dp? If your income is below a certain level you'll qualify for Child Tax Credits.

Unless you're a fairly high earning couple, you'll get something, you'll also get Child Benefit (£80 per month).

Check out www.entitledto.co.uk

Child tax credits are great, they're a real help. You'll also get child benefit - OK it's only £80 every few weeks but it's better than a poke in the eye with a rusty stick! and you should add it to any budget. If you're on a low income I think you'll also get £500 sure start when your baby's born I think, and there's also a couple of hundred quid given to you when your pregnant I think - not sure about this, it came in after DS was born. Again, not much, but you should add it to any budget.

Most importantly though, for me at least, was that my bank did a mortgage holiday for 6 months. Maternity was one of the standard reasons that my mortgage provider (Halifax) did this. Not paying the mortgage for 6 months made a world of difference for us.

Contact your mortgage provider and ask them if you can do this. Many of them do.

Also look at what things you can cut back on. www.moneysavingexpert.com has loads of good advice.

It is doable!

HTH

thisisyesterday - what was the point in posting that? Your advice is not only totally unhelpful - it's also factually incorrect - you can get help with cost of living - that's what things like child tax credits are for.

Yes, in an ideal world we would all have everything planned and sorted before we did anything major like have a baby. But you know what, life's just not like that.

Personally, I have relied heavily on benefits the last year or so since having my lovely - but totally accidental DS. And why shouldn't I? I've been diligently earning and paying tax for long enough! That's what benefits are there for - to hep you (and particularly children) in times of need
(I'm mow back at work part-time now, not that it's any of your business).

Please take your bitchy, sanctimonious rubbish and piss off elsewhere, there's a dear.

Oh dear, the typos!

I'm awake but it would seem my internal grammar spell / grammar check isn't!

Also, Child Benefit is £80 every 4 weeks exactly.

assumed tax credits and CB were a given, and at any rate they aren't going to cover outgoings of £500 a month

it isn't unhelpful, it's a fact of life.

The op, as I said, should be getting maternity pay from her employer.
it isn't up to the state to ensure you can pay your mortgage if you choose to have a baby.

yes, accidents happen, but sadly the same applies. Why should the state pay people's mortgages when they have children???

Most people only get SMP from their employer. That's £123 a week.

most people i know get full pay for a short while and then SMP.
obv it depends what you do and who you're employed by, but I don't think it's the case that most people are only given SMP by their employers

sorry, i know it sounds harsh. But if you have a baby these are the kind of thing you should look into and make allowances for if possible (ie, putting aside some money each month as a buffer, if possible).

Ds was a surprise and his father was a sh*t. My employer paid the minimum SMP so I ended up taking out a bank loan to fund the shortfall between SMP and my outgoings. Told bank manager that I needed to buy a bigger car .

Retrench as much as possible and live a paired back life. Take a mortgage holiday until you return to work. Many parents can only afford 6m maternity leave but don't feel too hard done by, in Hong Kong, no matter what your salary, you get 10 weeks!

Babies, despite what the advertising suggests, don't actually need very much (i.e. change tables, special baby furniture, moses basket, nappy bin...)

If family are in a position to, ask them to buy you things you really will use like a cot & pram rather than a hand & foot plaster kit.

Ensure you are getting what you are entitled to re benefits: child tax credit, working tax credit, maternity grant.

I expect most high paid women get contractual maternity pay - do you really think all those women on low pay or minimum wage get anything though?

OP - if your outgoings are £500 a month then surely SMP plus child benefit and some tax credits will cover it?

I'm in exactly the same situation - my salary will go down from £2000 per month to £123 per week. That's all my employer will pay me, SMP. As dh is on a much lower salary, we won't have enough to cover rent , bills etc. I've borrowed some on an interest free credit card, we'll get a bit more CTC, some help from my parents and dh may have to get a second job. It really sucks! I'm looking everywhere for ideas on how to cut down on expenses but rent, council tax and utility bills won't change - that alone is £1200 per month...

But, and despite all this, I would never have connsidered not having a bsby because of the money! I don't think I would have any children if I was waiting for the perfect time!

On another note I think the amount of SMP is absolutely ludicrous! Who can possibly go from a full salary to that little money??

well i worked for clarks, on minimum wage, and i still got maternity pay for 6 months (90% of my pay)

Lucky you.

Yep, children make you poor. It is a bit of a shock at first but you change your lifestyle and you get used to it.

If you are unable to afford the mortgage on this then you will either need to put the house on the market, take a mortgage break if your bank will let you, or see if you can keep working (although childcare is around £40 a day)

we relied on freecycle a lot for baby stuff (changing table, cot, high chair, clothes, the lot) and put it back to the system as soon as we're done with it. This helps loads.
Mortgage hols help as well, and so does savings.

yes don't spend anything on baby stuff

you just need breasts and a shoebox for it to sleep in

I've never received anything other than basic in my life, a great many e,mployers don't do that. far less these days I expect!

OP can I suggest entitled to website? if your income is incredibly low you may well be entitled to council tax benefit, althjough as you have a mortgage not housing. It does depend what yopur DP earns (quite rightly of course).

Isn't £123 p/ week not that far off £500anyway? So really you should be able to negotiate som,e leeway esp. if you include TC's / CB you'll be there.

Unfortunately uk is one of the worst country for SMP in Europe .Even country consider poorer than uk give mums and families much more in pay and support.
I think uk women should do somenthing for their rigths especiallyin this case.They also the ones the work more hours than many countries and frankly i will not say that you dont work when you have a baby.This is a mothet most imporyant job!!!! Should be payed!!!!! I really feel for all the mother( the majority in fact) they have to return to work while their baby is only 3 months or 4 or 6 .Am working in childcare and i have seen mothers crying badly for this.I think a cpyntry like uk should do better on this.The goverment should work out a better plan.
Im my country of origin mothers have all sort of support and 6 months full pay maternity leave no matter wich job they do plus other benefits .And this is consider an econic crashed coutry.So why uk is so bad on pay out (am sure they can afford it!!!!)SMP ?!? .Chilcarer and mother to be