Maternity Leave Stress

[AKS93]

Is anyone else due later this year and really stressed about maternity leave and pay and how the hell you're going to make it work financially? I'm due withbour second baby at the start of December and after the 6 weeks leave at 90% salary I honestly don't know what we're going to do.

If you don't have savings for it and only get statutory from work, how are you planning to make it manageable for your family?

And please don't say 'you should have planned for this' or 'its irresponsible not to have savings for it', we weren't even sure we'd ever be able to have another baby, and certainly not without help and a lot of pre-planning, so this baby was a very happy surprise. As such we were not anticipating me taking maternity leave in the immediate future so had not financially prepared for it. Our daughter is in primary school so we don't have childcare costs currently, and my partner works full time.

Just looking for anyone that is in the same position or has any ideas we might not have thought of that could help.

TIA x

Due early Jan all being well.
Not a clue how I'll make it work to be honest 😂 lost my job around March time, kept on TTC because it's been over 7 years and 4 losses. Sort of winging it for now because of the losses so waiting to see if this one works out. Will panic about money later!

Check your universal credit entitlement.

Think about tactical options - eg. Accruing as much leave as possible between now and then so can reduce low / no pay period.

Remember that a year Mat leave is a max, not the norm.

Look for tactics around child care. Reduced hours. Compressed working week. KIT days while partner takes annual leave.

Starting a second job before you start Mat Leave so can do a bit of work through that during leave whilst keeping SMP entitlement from main job.

Maximising pay during the qualifying period to maximise your 6 weeks at 90%.

Being really, really mindful of adverts for baby stuff. You know you don’t need to buy anything new.

Totally get where you’re coming from. I’d lost my job in December and started my new job in March, so literally days into the bracket for being eligible for SMP thankfully.

We’ve had 3 losses so similarly didn’t really let myself stress about money or anything till after several successful scans, but now I’m 13 weeks, already showing, and it’s all feeling very real and stressful 😅

Hope things continue to go well for you! It’s so hard being so grateful for a healthy pregnancy but being stressed about material things that seem so insignificant overall but are actually really important 🙈

Unfortunately I can’t carry more than 5 days leave over into the new year so accruing it this year won’t help at all. And as I’m salaried there’s no way to ‘maximise pay’ over the qualifying period.

The second job thing would be a great idea but I’m struggling with hyperemesis and barely managing to keep up with one job, let alone the fact that childcare would be an issue if either of us worked more due to my partner’s working pattern meaning he’s away a lot.

You're so right about the adverts! Thankfully I’m quite practical about that stuff and we know what we actually need, what needs to be new, and what can be second hand/ we can do without. So easy to get carried away!

We’re looking at a maximum of 6 months leave, totally agree that a year is the ideal but not achievable for us.

Thanks for the ideas, appreciate the input! 😊

You accrue annual leave whilst on maternity leave as you cannot take holiday pay whilst on mat leave so the usual policy of carrying 5 days over should not apply , check ACAS website for more info

I believe this only counts for annual leave accrued once on maternity leave though, and as my mat leave won’t start until the beginning of December I wouldn’t accrue more than that before the end of our leave period (Jan-dec). So I’d still not be able to carry more than the 5 days over into the next year as all of my other leave accrued earlier this year would have been prior to maternity leave.

Does that make sense? I’ll definitely double check but that’s how it’s been explained to me so far.

I was the main was earner….so I went back to work when all of mine were 16 weeks. (Also lots of losses and multiple rounds of IVF…pregnancy ended up being twins so royally financially screwed 😂)
long maternity leaves are a luxury and a choice - sometimes you just can’t take a whole year off

I'm due at the end of September and was made redundant in February and have been unable to find another job before being obviously pregnant. I'm only entitled to maternity allowance and am looking at having about 18 months out of work.
I'm looking at potentially doing some tutoring to bring in a bit of income, we have been decluttering and selling stuff on eBay. I'm expecting a boy and had a daughter last time so I'm going to sell the dresses and anything with a tutu on.

My partners job was precarious for a while as he's in an industry where it's really difficult to get a permanent contract and most people are on fixed term contract with no guarantee of another when one ends. Due to this we've set our finances to be affordable with a single income which has been a huge relief this year. He's slightly more stable at the moment so hopefully I'll be back in employment before his work gets unstable again. We will weather the next 18 months ok but this was a year to top up our savings as our daughter is in school so we have a gap in nursery fees so we will probably feel the impact over the coming years as our savings will only go so far.

I returned from maternity leave with my daughter with 60 days annual leave and I had 12 months from my return from maternity leave to use the annual leave accrued over mat leave. The usual 5 days carry over didn't apply but I don't know if this is a company thing or a general thing

Can you save some leave so stop work earlier but start maternity leave quite late? I’m on annual leave (so full pay) from 37 weeks but not on maternity leave until my due date. I’m also going back a bit earlier as I’m the higher earner, and my husband is taking parental leave.

That’s interesting about the annual leave, I’ll definitely double check I’m not being given the wrong idea with the explanation I’ve had so far then. Thanks!

Yeah we’re trying to adjust finances to be lower too, unfortunately renting means our main outgoings are fairly inflexible but definitely being careful to minimise unnecessary spending elsewhere!

We’d given all of our baby stuff away years ago otherwise would definitely sell girl stuff if this turns out to be a boy!

Wow, twins! What an amazing surprise! But yes, definitely a bigger financial hurdle!

Hoping to manage 6 months if we can somehow as no nurseries around here take babies under 6months so until then childcare would be an issue. But a whole year is definitely a luxury and I know that’s not the norm. Would take a lottery win for that to be an option for us I think 🤣

One thing I did do was take a bank loan out over 10 years for £25k - that was £260 per month - stuck it all in tax free childcare account so added 25% on top and that paid the childcare for the twins until they got 30 hours (age 3) - so something to think about
also I found a childminder who took children from 12 weeks so that also helped

Just here to say I’m with you!
Im a teacher at the top of the pay scale with a TLR added on for management responsibilities, and I am the main earner in our relationship. My partner still brings a strong salary to the table but I am worried about the decrease in my own when I’m on mat leave…it’s just going to be such a big drop!

So stressful isn’t it! My partner is the main earner but only by a small amount, we’re not that far off equal, and the maths just don’t work 😣

I know it’ll all be ok, we’ll make it work, but I’m in such a panic about it.

Start saving as much as possible from now...I'm sure you already are and have cut down on all unnecessary subscriptions, limit take aways, holiday in the UK or for super cheap, batch cook and stock up, buy things to stockpile when you see them on offer. Like tinned tomatoes, pasta and beans etc buy second hand and sell on.

Where possible switch providers and lock into a fix. Cancelling sky saved us a small fortune and we now live stream or use Netflix.

Down grade certain purchases and use unbranded if you can easily make it work.

Buy nappies from sainsburys, aldi brands etc

Even things like making sure your home is well insulated , although a cost will save you money in the long run.

Sign up to get freebies - like Emma's diary and there's another I'm forgetting. Do an amazon baby list to get whatever deal they are offering.

Do your KIT days, to pad out your leave and income. Use accured annual leave and any carried over even 5 days during your unpaid portion of mat leave. You're unable to take it before then as that will trigger the end of your leave

Look now to get an idea of any free baby classes or libraessuons to get you out of the house and the have the heating off or very low when out.

I’m due November with baby number 2, daughter has only just turned 1, we have savings & my husband’s income covers the bills so not for us personally but I do know a few of my friends who have been in your shoes and I know what a few of them did- and obviously how doable this is depends on your income vs outgoings, if it does take pretty much every £ of both incomes to pay everything then it doesn’t work- but they sat and worked out what their total income was going to be from pregnant right to end of the planned maternity, worked out the average monthly and started living off that lower amount now & saving the rest to top up to average down the line. It meant no/less treats, takeaways etc but it did mean adjusting to a lower income earlier and being able to just live for a longer time on that amount rather than having 9 months of pregnancy as normal & 6 weeks of 90% as normal them dropping off a cliff financially. As I say though that’s only doable if you can balance the books, if every £ of both incomes is needed then it doesn’t work.

Another thing I would really recommend is looking on Vinted for clothes- especially baby clothes because they are in them for such a short amount of time that most of them are pretty much perfect when being sold on. I never even thought of Vinted when pregnant with my daughter and we must have easily spent £500+ in mamas & papas etc on sleepsuits and outfits, when I finally discovered Vinted a few months ago I was shocked by how much stuff is on there, pretty much new condition, for genuinely about 10% of the price in store if not cheaper. Definitely worth a look!

For bigger items like prams/furniture for nursery, look on marketplace & local fb page, there’s always someone trying to sell some on our local fb pages and again it’s a fraction of what you’d pay for it new.

Oh and also, if you have lots of friends/family who want to buy a little something for baby I would gently suggest that if people are thinking of buying clothes to not just all buy first size.

We had lots of family/friends who came to visit our daughter when she was born with clothes as gifts and we were of course so grateful BUT pretty much everybody had bought first size/newborn which she was only in for a matter of weeks & lots of those things just didn’t get worn and still have their tags on. It hasn’t been a waste as they will now be used for this baby but if you’re on a tight budget and people want to buy something anyway then it would be a bigger help to you if you are gifted a range of clothes- takes the financial pressure off over a longer term.

This is how my works AL policy worked too. I carried over 5 from the current year, everything else had to be taken before my mat leave started. I looked at ACAS guidance but work were within their rights. I can only accure the next leave years entitlement. I did ask if work would buy back the AL off me but they wouldn't, could you ask your work for that option? I ended up being on AL for over a month before my mat leave officially started and would have preferred the money.

This is correct, it is a bit of a lottery of your due date & your AL renewal date. If your annual leave year was for example Feb-Feb and you were due in April then you’d have a strong argument for being allowed to carry over more of of your leave because you’d only have had 2 months to use your days, but if you’re due in December with a Jan-Dec leave year then it’s difficult to say you haven’t had a chance to use the days if that makes sense.

I know this isn't a very popular stance on MN, but we have a couple of K savings and will be using 0% credit card to tide us over. Hoping to take the full year - you only get this time once

Im due in August and will be on statutory mat leave again this time from a zero hour contract. £600ish a month. Im not going to lie its really really difficult. We dont get any benefits apart from child benefit for one child. In all honesty im not sure what im going to do this time. I probably will have to find a new job before the 9 months is up.

Incorrect. You can't do a second job and also receive SMP from another job.

The “only get this time once” thing is weighing heavily on my mind. Especially as the first year of our daughter’s life was a rough one for me physically and mentally, and I feel like I didn’t really get to enjoy the baby stage properly. Having spent the years since not knowing if I’d get to experience it again, I don’t want to let it fly past me this time 😣

May not be a popular stance but a 0% credit card may be the way we have to go too.

When are you due? X

Be sensible would be my advice. I got full pay for 3 months but still went back after 6. If i hadn't, I would have gotten into debt and drained all my savings. Life is fine, everyone has adjusted.

I think people feel a lot of pressure to take a full year because of what others think but think about what you require financially.

Do KIT days where you can. Save every spare penny and sell unused items around the house.

Don't stress, you'll get through it.

They really need to look at stat mat pay in today's cost of living.

Also look at your husband's shared parental leave policy. He might be eligible for some paid leave?