Yikes - Only getting Statutory Maternity pay from the day i go on maternity leave

[Yaffle72]

Hi there

can anyone please give me some financial pointers as to how a single mum to be can possibly cope with paying mortgages along with new baby costs when my company have changed our policy to offer only stat. mat. leave pay?

any tips would be greatly appreciated as I am really starting to worry that I genuinely cannot actually take more than 1 month off after the birth of my child. :-(

thanks

Y

You will be entitled to child benefit and tax credits once baby is born

Well for the first 6 weeks you should get 90% of your normal pay and then statutory thereafter.

Depending on what you earn you can claim child benefit (£80 a month) and then possibly child tax credits and working tax credits. Have a look at any mortgage protection plans that you have, as they might cover some of the mortgage payments.

Look now at what your outgoings are each month and see what you can cut back on, check out the credit crunch topic here, you may want to start a thread there and people will help you to see where you can make cutbacks.

Then you need to sit down and see how much you can live on each month and see how much you have got, when is your baby due? Hopefully you still have time to save :)

Can you talk to bank about a mortgage break whilst on mat leave?

And the baby's father should be contributing!

I was also going to suggest the baby's father.

What does your contract say about mat pay? I don't think they can change the terms without your agreement.

I am self-employed so only had maternity allowance, which is the same as SMP. I had to talk to our bank to take a break from our mortgage for a few months, but we had to pay it back very quickly once I started working again and it KILLED us financially - and adversely affected our credit rating which has been a nightmare.

I only took three months off, and am now pregnant again and will have to only take three months again so am saving hard so we can pay the mortgage during that time.

My advice is to save as much as you can, which I know is really, really hard and if you are still short, to take out a loan which you start repaying when you go back to work - rather than make a mortgage break arrangement UNLESS your mortgage company allow you to do it without it affecting your credit (some do - ours don't unfortunately).

I am very very envious of women who get a year of decent maternity pay - but that's the price I pay for being self-employed.

You just can't take very long off!

Save like Mad & be grateful you're not in the USA

New babies don't cost that much. You can buy everything (bar a cot mattress) second hand and things are made to last.

Look into your benefit entitlement, and think about how you'll manage when you return to work. Childcare can be £50 a day. It can be painful, but if you start planning and saving now, I'm sure you'll manage it.

INew babies don't cost much but mortgages and running a house do.

OP, take legal advice or the advice of your union / Citizen's Advice. They may not be able to get away with swiping your mat pay.

Where is the baby's father? Will he pay maintenance?

I didn't think they could just change your conditions of service either. If your Contract of Employment gives details of maternity pay entititlement then they canct just change that. But agree with speaking to your mortgage company to see if you can have say three or six months off. And also agree Baby's father should be making a contribution. It shouldn't be all down to you.

As well as what others have said there's council tax benefit.

You may also qualify for the sure start maternity grant £500 (which you don't need to pay back) depending on what you earn now

im still learning hr, but i am quite certain they can change the mat pay policy.policiss form part of a contract of employment and can be subject to change. people can say they do not agree to the new tetms after a consultation, but the company can simply terminate the employment and offer to reengage on the new terms.afaik

i think any recourse would depend on when they changed them ie. day after op announces shes pg would probably not be favourably looked on by any sort of intermediary such as acas.

also, if the policies are published ie they are in a shared locayion where all employees can view them and this new policy has been available to view for some time without question then its deemed to have been accepted (afaik again but always happy to be corrected) we have a disclsimer stating all policies can be subject to change and are regularly updated snd stored in xxxxx location for employees to view

As others have said:

• save up as much as possible whilst working and if possible work as late as possible
• if accrue holiday pay use those weeks for time off ( so save holiday from this year and use next year holiday at least in part)
• if know who father of baby is sort out finance, either informally or formally
• buy second hand
• work out extra income: child benefit as soon as baby is born, money from baby's father, any government benefits you are able to claim
• breast feeding is cheaper than formula, so if wish to do this ask midwife for support or local breast feeding groups
• ask mortgage company for a few months mortgage break if they offer
• accept cannot have 52 weeks off work