Maternity Pay, what do you get?

[Sparkly1234]

Hello
What will I get paid when i am maternity leave? Is there a decent calculator that will tell me what i will get after tax etc as not been able to find anything that helps much.
I will be entiltled to Stat mat pay, with 90% of wage for 6 weeks then the lower amount of 138.18 per week after as well as 20.50 child benefit if i am correct.
Would be good to know what i will actually get while off, so i can plan and see how much me and my husband can afford. As dont think it will be easy as he is on a low wage at the moment and we have used all our saving pretty much moving and renovating a house that still isnt finished.
Any advise is appreciated and how did others who have been through maternity leave find it? As does seem scary not getting paid much for so long.

I'm interested to find this out too.

There is a maternity pay calculator that works out SMP for you but not one where you can put your work maternity pay in.

Hello Sparkly!

Try this calculator www.gov.uk/calculate-your-maternity-pay

I am the same as you, 6 weeks at 90%, so I will be taking 6 weeks maternity leave, plus 2 weeks annual leave, then back to work boooo
x

I've just finished a year's maternity leave, and I don't think I paid any tax, as my projected earnings for the year were under the threshold.

Most people manage by planning babies very carefully and saving beforehand.

Tax credit may help you, but you are right to do your sums and see how long you can afford to take off. Remember thigh, when you go back to work, paid childcare is upwards or £40 per day in many areas.

I was wondering about tax too.
Also need to look into what benefits we get. DH is unemployed (although hopes of a job soon) but I have quite good maternity pay (3 months full, 3 months half) so can stay off for 6 months then DH taking over childcare if he's not in work.

Jenny

If DH is unemployed, you will not be able to claim for the childcare element of working tax credits, so defo something for him to consider.

You may be entitled to some Tax credits and perhaps a Surestart grant of £500 depending on your circumstances.

HMRC have a calculator you can test out here just for a rough idea

taxcredits.hmrc.gov.uk/Qualify/DIQHousehold.aspx

I had my first DS when we didn't have much money at all, but we coped, so try not to let worry ruin your pregnancy.

AnythingNotEverything indeed, always best to plan and save, but it doesn't always work out that way for everyone.

I am very fortunate to have a well paid job, and OH is a teacher so has 13 weeks off a year (13 weeks of free childcare)

I get same then the lower rate for 33 weeks so it totals to 39 weeks receiving payment. The remaining 13 weeks I get nothing so may have to cut my leave shorter than planned.

It's still early days for me so will discuss further with work once I announce my pregnancy

Number3 a little off topic but bear in mind in most cases you will still have to pay for childcare during the school holidays. My son had childcare in a day nursery for a few years and then a childminder once he started school and we always had to pay at least half the cost during the school holidays (even though his teacher dad looked after him) to 'hold the place'. Maybe you'll be lucky and find someone who doesn't charge but I think that will be unusual!

I get 6 months full pay, 3 months half then 3 months stat if taking a year. I work for the nhs

Pisghetti

thanks for that, fortunately it is somewhere another one of my children already goes and we do not have to pay for holidays.

I am very fortunate in that instance.

Hi sparky,
I got the same as you and I had to pay tax and ni my total after the 90% worked out at about £530 a month. The child benefit can be paid into any bank account as you provide them the details. I get ours paid into a separate household account so goes towards nappies ect for our18 month old son.

I pregnant with our 2nd and we are really going to feel the strain due to a higher mortgage as we live in a bigger house, but babies don't cost much they just need feeding, love and attention :) good luck with everything x

Hi racheyg, was the 530 just the maternity pay part? Then I guess you would get the 80 on top of that for child benefit?

It is never the right time to have a baby for most I guess, we have been saving for years for new house and baby. Just ended up getting a house that needed a lot of work which wasn't the original plan and then found out I was pregnant same time the offer was accepted! But we got a good price on house and had a good deposit so the mortgage isn't too high so we should be able to manage just won't have much left over after bills and food and cars and baby things etc.

Also working tax credits, who is entitled to those and when? Not sure if I will be.

Thanks x

Hi sparkly,

Yes the £530 (ish) was just the stat mat pay I received monthly. Then the child tax is paid every 4 weeks.

We aren't entitled to working family tax credit or anything else apparently we earn "too much". If you go on the gov website they have a calculator where you enter yours and your partners pay, tax ect and they will be able to tell you if you are entitled to any.

Ok thanks for that, it's a bit better than I thought at first. I don't think we are entitled to any extra help, will double check. As although my husband doesn't earn a great wage it is still a full time wage and above minimum wage.
We will just have a budget a but more and cut back on certain things, but it's not as if we spend loads on going out etc now so there isn't a lot we can cut out that will save much.

You will only pay tax on the 90% bit, but not on £138/week unless your untaxable amount is very low due to work benefits like a car. So you will be getting roughly £590 per month (if you calculate a month being 4.3 weeks).

Child benefit is not taxable unless you earn £60k+ per person.

Also as SMP comes at much lower than your tax free allowance you will probably get some tax back next year from HMRC.

Re tax credits - they are based on household income. Under £17k you will get working tax credits. Under £26k you will get child tax credits. Both working over 16 hours and combined income below around 40k you will get some help to pay registered childcare. There's calculators for the exact amounts but it gives you a rough idea if you are eligible.

Carrot- I could have sworn I was taxed on my maternity, it was very low but I'm pretty sure I said to the accounts dept at work "wow I get taxed on that?!"

I've been at the same work place for 11 years and never changed tax code and I didn't get a tax rebate or anything glad some of you might get a rebate you deserve

X

Well it depends when it was - tax free allowance has been increasing every year, but maternity pay hasn't gone up that much AFAIK.

This year tax free all was £10k, so that's £830 a month before you get taxed - SMP is much lower than that.

I get 3mo full pay, 3mo half pay and then 3mo statutory pay. NHS.

does the nhs have different maternity pay packages then? seems a lot pinkie 1982?

Does it matter when in the tax year the mat leave starts? I can imagine your pay in the same financial year before SMP is taken into account in determining whether you've reached your personal allowance and therefore whether SMP is taxed or not?

I can't imagine why they would tax SMP. As I said above, it's way below tax free allowance.

Regarding when in the tax year it starts, it only determines how much (if any) tax you get paid back.