Maternity pay

[Baby160P]

Does anyone know how the statutory maternity pay works?

From online I can see it's something like £140 per week, was looking at child tax credits but you have to earn under £25k to be entitled to it.

Anyone aware of any £ help as £140 per week won't get me far!

SMP isn't great I was on MA and got my £140 a week plus £80 every 4 weeks child benefit which everyone is entitled to once baby is born.

I don't get working tax credits but I do get childcare tax credits. Obviously that's due to my DS being in childcare though and is not something you get during maternity.

It's always worth having a look on entitled.to as you put in your information and it tells you everything and anything you might be entitled to. It's well worth doing but I'll be honest, there isn't really much out there and you may find you have solely SMP and child benefit.

@beccii161016 thanks how do you apply for the £80 every 4 weeks?

My friend says she get nothing!

Hard when you're self employed!

When baby is born you'll be given a bounty pack and it comes with a claim form :) you fill it in and send it off, it takes a little while to process but they do backdate it to the north Date of baby

It is bloody hard, it at least halved most people's normal pay if not more and a baby means more to pay out! You do have to scrimp a lot and shopping at Aldi was the best thing we ever started doing haha! Can highly recommend their nappies and wipes!

If one parent earns over 50,000 child benefit is reduced so your friend may not get anything.

I'm not sure if it still works this way with universal credit replacing child tax credit but it used to be the first £100pw of maternity pay was not counted when considering earnings for tax credit purposes. Entitledto is really good - fill it in as though it is the income you will be on the year you're on maternity rather than last year's income as it suggests.

Oh and statutory maternity pay is 90% of your normal weekly pay per week for the first 6 weeks followed by £140ish pw for the next 37 weeks.

Save save save as much as you can whilst working during the pregnancy. Only buy what you need for baby - you don't need a lot of clothes etc. We had 7 vests, 7 sleep suits, cardi, hat in 0-3 and that was enough initially. Car seat, something for baby to sleep in and toiletries for hospital bag. Nappies and wipes from aldi were fab.

I bought everything new but tbh I wish I didn't bother, second hand is just as good most of the time and everything is used for such a short while. Have a look on gumtree and eBay for fab deals. Lots of threads on here with recommendations if you search as well.

You need to do some sums and work out how long you can afford to be on maternity leave for. Last 3 months are unpaid too - most people save like crazy to afford a decent amount of time off without getting into debt or can afford to become a SAHM

You can apply on .gov.uk for child benefit. Some hospitals don't give bounty packs out as they have banned bounty reps.

SMP is currently £145 .18

We saved £4K whilst I was pregnant so it meant the mortgage payments were covered. We used it all and also have around £3k worth of credit card debt on a 0% card. I went from being the main earner to £140 a week. I’m back at work now and the credit card should be paid off by Xmas it will have cost us around 2 years to ‘pay’ for my maternity leave if you get what I mean.

Its mad isnt it. I'm fortunate enough in my job that I can go back to work and take the baby so that'll help!

It is outrageous. I would get more money being on long term sick than i have been getting whilst receiving maternity pay. It feels more like a punishment!

My cousin who is self employed had to effectively pay herself maternity pay ( the £140 pw ) and claim it back at the end. Not sure the ins and outs of it so might be worth you researching it.

If you are self-employed and pay class 2 NI you have to apply for maternity allowance. You have to prove income and it takes a while for the them to sort it out. Some women don't get paid the money until they have nearly finished taking their time off.

If you run a small company and can claim SMP you have to reconcile the payments when you do your yearly accounts. (If you have an accountant they will do all this for you.) In other words it can take over a year to get the money back.

Unfortunately if you are self-employed/run a small business you are forced back to work after a few weeks to a few months, even if it is part-time, because of shit maternity pay but more importantly the fact you will lose clients/customers if you take too long off.

So when you put the claims forms in do you put your income now? For example I earn 25k and other half earns 25k which would total 50k however I obviously will have a massive drop in wage during this time?

You can get the child benefit form here: www.gov.uk/government/collections/child-benefit-forms

You don't have to accept intrusion from the bloody Bounty rep to get the form, like they would lead you to believe.

@WhirlingTurkey amazing thanks, when do you put a claim in?

Once baby is here?

Yes, once baby is born. As you need DOB, etc. but no harm in having the forms ready to go so you can send them off ASAP.

Thank you for your help.

I'm in saving mode already!

We're fortunate to have a massive family so no doubt we will have lots bought for us!

You can get some amazing bargains second hand if you give yourself time to shop around. Prams in particular (one of the most ridiculous purchases in terms of expense generally). The only thing I wouldn't buy second hand are bottles (if bottle feeding), dummies, teething toys and soft sleep surfaces - mattress, bedding, etc. and a car seat... other than that, it is all worth looking out for second hand. NCT often do some fabulous nearly new sales.

In terms of cost saving, breastfeeding is a good one, if you are able to (and want to of course).

I have just checked the child benefit form and you need a birth certificate to claim, so can't do it until after you have registered baby.

I worked out what I would get in total over the 9 months (6 weeks 90% plus 33 weeks at £136 (which it was at that time)) then divided that by 9. So the first couple Of months I put the surplus to one side to boost up the remaining months (if that makes sense).

Good idea ladies I'll have to sit down nearer the time xx

I was starting to panic about this too... it's just peanuts to live on, I'm going to have to start saving up promptly to be able to pay all the bills when I'm off.

Thinking about taking as little time off as i can afford before returning 3 days a week (on this with commission I'll get 1.5x SMP) - maybe 3 months? Depends on what childcare we'll be able to get from family as we won't be able to afford any!

Does anyone else feel penalised for working? If we were on benefits we'd be much better off - now I understand why so many do. I don't get why the company I work for would pay me 12 working weeks sick pay (100% of pay) due to my long service but as it's to have a baby I get half of this at 90% then just what the government handout!

If companies pay enhanced sick pay it's often because they have an insurance policy to cover it. My company pays 6 months full pay for sickness but only SMP for maternity. Also, the 6 weeks at 90% comes from the government too, not just the paltry £140 a week.

Like lots of others above, we have been saving while I've been pregnant and will just have to dip into the pot to make up the shortfall each month. I'm hoping for a nice tax rebate at some point, as £140 is a pittance compared to my normal pay!

It doesn't help I think my boss isn't goi the very nice when they hear the news and I think they'll get rid of me some how!

They can't do that legally @Baby160P you'd be able to sue them!

I've just found out that DH is going to be paying more into our joint account every month which means I can pay in less to cover the same bills and save up to subsidise SMP!