UK maternity policy feels inadequate

[Bunny44]

I wanted to see how people manage in similar situations. I'm only going to receive statutary maternity leave, which I have to take from my estimated due date, so this is 6 weeks at 90% pay, then £726 per month there on.

I am a single parent (through being left while pregnant), I'm on a reasonablly high salary and have a mortgage, but I live in London so obviously costs are also high. The nurseries near me only take babies from 6 months, so I'm looking at potentially having 5 months of living off £726, which is half of my mortgage cost, let alone bills etc.

I'm trying my best to save as much as possible now and even taking on extra work, but I'm also aware that when I go back to work, nursery will cost £2000 a month so I need to keep back some of these saving as covering this is all going to be very tight.

I feel a bit aggreived as having spoken to most of my friends, nearly all of them, except a couple of self-employed ones, receive enhanced maternity leave at 26 weeks at full pay at least. My company (SMB in a male-dominated industry) told me before joining that they were introduced enhanced maternity leave, but then after joining said it's only for 12 weeks and you have to have been at the company for 2 years to qualify, so I didn't make this threshold.

I don't qualify for any extra government help, despite my income falling way behind what you would need to live off in the UK per month. It seems unreasonable I've been working and paying NI since I was 14 (I'm 35 now) and pay considerable taxes now and then when I actually need support it is not available. Also stautary maternity pay is just not enough when the woman is the only or main earner. You need at least 6 weeks, if not much more, to just physically recover. You could say I should find a company that has a better parental policy before getting pregnant, but it's really awkward asking in interviews and in my industry it doesn't seem to be well catered in this regard (and they complain that there are not enough women!)

I'm surprised about quite how difficult it is, and as metioned financially I have been in a pretty good position - how on earth do others manage if they are the only earner and don't get enhanced parental leave?

What you're saying doesn't make sense in response to mine. I'm clearly not dependent on that State. Do you understand the purpose of National Insurance which is separate from income tax? Its not maternity "benefits" they are what you get out in relation to what you pay into National insurance.

@Reality25 we are talking here about people who work full time and contribute in taxes and national insurance. Country is in terrible state because it hands out money like there is no tomorrow for people who choose not to work for living and boat arrivals. Also free NHS for all eats all the money away.

Also to those people saying it's good to have kids due to the falling birthrate, don't pretend that you are doing it for that reason. You are having them because you want to. Pure and simple. You aren't doing it for any other reason.

Try talking to your mortgage provider, you may be able to ask for a mortgage holiday or reduced payments for the months you are on maternity leave. Nothing to lose by asking and it'll help your savings stretch further!

Rejigging the way MAT pay works could be cost neutral. It might be better to have higher pay for a shorter period.
People can still spread that money over a longer period if they want longer off by budgeting. If the total maternity package from week 6 to week 39 is 5000ish pounds over 33 weeks. It could be 5000ish over 16 weeks instead.
Im not saying this is the best solution but not everything costs more.

Honestly enhanced Mat leave after two years is pretty generous. Many companies don't offer that. I certainly wouldn't make it the hill to die on.

I'm afraid you really have a deep misunderstanding of our system.

NI is just income tax with a frilly name. There is no ringfencing. The only reason it's not combined is that the media will give whoever does it an absolute hammering with headlines like "INCOME TAX GOING FROM 20% to 32%!!"

But functionally, the government collects tax in various forms and spends it. Simple as that.

You may not depend on the state for everything but you do want to depend on the state for more maternity leave.

Other people want to depend on the state for other things, e.g. social care, welfare, supporting asylum seekers etc.

Overall there is a culture of dependency on the state - not you in particular.

Maternity benefits are just that. Benefits. It's no different to any other form of social safety net in society.

So if you want more money spent on you, who are you going to take it from?

Good idea to be honest.

Would still cost more to the state directly but they'd likely get it back and then some via boosted work output as it would encourage more women to work sooner.

What exactly are people basing it on that uk mat leave pays so well?? It is just blatantly not true.

Out of all the European countries that offer statutory leave the UK is near the bottom in terms of what it pays compared to European and OECD countries.

https://www.oecd.org/els/soc/PF2_1_Parental_leave_systems.pdf#page=3

Yes I agree this would be better. We physically need to take a certain amount of time off, longer is nice to have

I'm Not saying consider an abortion at 6 months at all! but presumably you did have a choice and chose to enter into a relationship with a fly by night and then continue the pregnancy

If you have a mortgage your benefits will be greatly reduced - especially the housing element and also with having £16k of savings

The U.K. is terrible for parental leaves both mother and father . People are deluded if they think otherwise .

The country is this state because of people like you who like to normal others for your voting choices !! Your post screams bigot and right winger

People end up having break ups while pregnant for all sorts of reasons. This was with a long-term partner who was living with me. I know people this happened to who were married so you shouldn't make such assumptions at all.

I meant to say that, longer is a nice to have. Women being put in a position where they don't have enough funding to live off while they can't physically return to work isn't right.

That's not entirely correct. You aren't eligible for parental leave, sick leave or a pension unless you have contributed specifically to certain levels of N.I.

You actually have a choice in whether you pay NI or not if you are self-employed and you can contribute to NI when you're not working. It is essentially considered an 'insurance' so that if you habe been working, when you are not able to work, due to having a baby, being sick or being retired, you are covered.

UC and other benefits are separate and not N.I. dependent and in particular designed for those who need enhanced support because they've never been able to work and may not have contributed enough. Although these days they also top up people on low income.

OP, you said your company offers enhanced parental pay for men. Do you know in what form this is? Because you could have a sex discrimination claim if e.g. men are able to claim an extra two weeks leave at full pay beyond the statutory and are entitled to it before 2 years with the company, yet that isn't on offer to you as a woman. I'm not saying you'd want to get into a legal battle with your employer but if this is the case it might at least be a bit of leverage for you to get your employer to use their discretion and offer enhanced maternity pay. Are there any other women in the company you could band together with to push for change?

I actually raised this with HR as I thought it was discrimination. Essentially they've decided statutary paternity leave is not adequate but statutary maternity leave is. I am on the management team so have pointed out that this is problematic, not only from my personal POV but also from a HR and hiring point of view. We advertise ourselves as a company which offers supportive parental policies and encourages diversity, however our policies do not actually reflect this.

I should also point out that there have been 10 guys on paternity leave in the last 6 months and no women on maternity leave yet, but 2 of us are currently pregnant. The other woman just about qualifies for the enhanced policy.

I think you should contact ACAS on that surely that is discrimination.

@Bunny44 - I'm currently on stat mat pay and it sucks. I managed to earn alot more during my qualifying period (18-25 wks) with bonus and commission to boost my 90% 6 wks. But, the next 33 wks at £170 ish per week is a joke. I earn more than the weekly pay in day! I also took the minimum amount of holiday so I could push that into next year's entitlement and either get paid out on it or have extra days.

What's helped for us (do have a H) is by saving hard as you've been doing. (I had a commute into London and live in Surrey. Existing childcare costs and clubs £££!) And, looking out for sales. Stock up on essentials when they're on sale. Sainsburys has their baby event (nectar prices on nappies and wipes) on atm as do boots. I've bought second hand where I could, been very kindly gifted hand me downs. Have batched cooked meals and frozen. Bought food and froze or stock piled things like pasta when on sale.

I also haven't bought things like a moses basket, got a next to me instead as you can use it longer. Didn't by a nappy bin (nappy go straight to the outside bin) or change table. Didn't get a perfect prep machine or anything like that. (I am combo feeding) Spent money where it needed to be spent and held off on additional extra buys.

I don't tumble dry anything anymore and am careful generally re: expenses. We also opened an additional savings account and put away £30/wk to cover any additional/unexpected baby costs or baby clubs and classes.

Childcare in the commuter belt is roughly the same as you're facing.

To help with childcare costs when I return to work (will have 6 months plus accrued holiday) I will do a compressed wk and work ft hours in 4 days, use holiday to phase in my return to work. Will have 4 weeks holiday before pay day to help get some funds before the big day and then will use days holiday here and there where possible. Baby will be in nursery for 3 days and then move up to 4 once holiday is used.

I will do compressed hours until baby is 2 and child care costs drop and then go back to normal ft.

I may if I can find cheap childcare do some keep in touch days. A kit day does not have to be your full working day, any courses, conferences or meetings count as well. If I do them I will be doing a 6 hrs day paid at my full salary day rate. (This does need to be agreed with your employer)

Things will be tight but once you get free childcare hours and they're in school you'll have a bit of breathing space. But, it's a long slog

Also OP it is very common to get paid extra by using your annual leave. I saved mine so I could be off for longer but our company on does SMP and most women take 2 days annual leave in a month which actually bumps up your pay quite a bit.
We also get paid for bank holidays as and when they fall which makes a difference too.
Try to save as much annual leave as possible that you accrue pre-baby and then you will continue to accrue leave on mat leave.

Don't forget if you earn under 100k you will get 15 hours free childcare come sept 2024 (by my reading) and 30 hours the following year!

Again, there is no ringfencing to pay for the benefits associated with it.

The money collected by the treasury under National Insurance is pooled in a separate pot from other tax revenues which is known as the National Insurance Fund. However, although it would be nice to consider this fund as ring-fenced and separate from other treasury funds, money actually flows into the fund, depending on whether the fund is in deficit.

State pension on its own costs almost as much as the entire NI tax intake.

Eligibility to certain benefits depend on individuals paying certain levels of NI, but the funding of those benefits costs more than NI contribution and is paid for from general taxation.

Most of the smaller tech companies I've worked for only provide statutory.

With the ones who provide enchanced pay and flexible working the fathers are often discouraged from taking it.

I have a male friend who was pushed out of his job for taking paternity leave and having a flexible working arrangement.

On the other hand I worked for a small firm who due to having a director who was the main carer of his kids, as he was the lower earner in his relationship, were very family friendly. However they still only provided statutory maternity/parental pay.

By the way, I think this is right but can anyone confirm?
Also shitting a brick about costs during mat leave and childcare after!