Maternity leave for primary earner

jackomdj

If your OH is going to be the primary carer when you go back to work then try to save as many months off as you can (can you save ll ha wages from now if they are oing to stop at some point) then once you are pregnant you have another 9 months to save, this will give you money to use to top up your salary.

You going off to work each day and hubby staying at home will be the same as most men have to do every day (although it is easy for me to say that as I got to have the time off whilst OH went off to work).

Good luck with your plans.

hawk30

Since your OH is going to become the primary carer, you should consider him taking additional paternity leave. What this means is that 20 weeks after the birth, you go back to work, OH takes over and is entitled to any SMP you have left. You then get your normal wages, which you say is more than OH's. It won't get get you much extra, but is worth considering.

From 2015 the government is planning on introducing shared parental leave where, two weeks after the birth, you can return to work and then decide how the rest of your mat leave entitlement is used.

haras_nosirrah

We had this problem - I don't have an answer as I went back to work 3 days a week when my son was 6 weeks old.

lazywife

Unfortunately we're in a similar position. I'm a high rate tax payer, on a good wage. DH has his own business that only started 3 years ago and is currently earning below tax threshold. We waited a little while so we knew we could afford for me to be on mat leave. We've but back, and saved and got alot of 2nd hand baby stuff.
Due to DH needing to build his business he works 40+ hrs a week so additional pat leave not an option for him.
I'm afraid you'll just have to accept that you'll have a lot less than you're used to for some months.
L.xxx

jtr2803

OH and I talked about this once (when I had a fleeting maternal thought!) and came to the conclusion that we just wouldn't be able to do it. I earn almost double once my annual bonus is taken into consideration and his basic wage wouldn't be able to sustain our rent, food and bills etc once I dropped to SMP.

We would only be able to do it by saving a considerable amount before hand to effectively top up my wages during that time.

It's crazy really, I don't understand why SMP can't be linked to your earnings or you can't take a government loan to be deducted from either parent in the future.......I know so many couples now who would love to have children and have worked all their adult lives but they just cannot afford to have children due to high mortgage costs and employers that only offer SMP.

Very sad.

Cookiee

OP I feel your pain hunni, can I join your boat as we are in the same position.

We will be debt free (after nearly 10yrs in debt) in sept and we will be putting what we were using to pay debt towards covering our mortgage etc as we will be dropping almost £800 a month. We plan on using my holiday for 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after plus you also get bank holidays included in your holiday entitlement.

OH earns just above minimum wage so he will also be staying at home when I go back. I am grateful I only work 10 mins down the road so can pop home at lunch to see them x

Another option for us is OH change his job and work 6-2 shift at work. This way bubs can interact with childcare / other kids. Then OH will be at home in the afternoon with them and we only pay half childcare costs x

OP your not on your own x I am also 33 and never thought about kids but recently like you I am starting to feel different x pm me if you want to chat x Love Cookiee

choccybuttons

Hi

We were in this position, we managed to save the difference to cover me for 9 months but I did work for company with an enhanced maternity package which helped. I also used holidays for bit of extra time off.

Im not sure if gov envoked this yet but wasnt there somthing about dads being able to take maternity leave that mums dont/cant afford to use.

You could also look at options like taking a mortgage holiday.

moneypuddle

We were also in the same position. You've just got to save. Cut back where you cane and start learning to be thrifty. We saved about £8,000 in order to have our baby. It was tough but we knew we had to do it x

Takeaway_Addict

jtr2803 wrote: »

OH and I talked about this once (when I had a fleeting maternal thought!) and came to the conclusion that we just wouldn't be able to do it. I earn almost double once my annual bonus is taken into consideration and his basic wage wouldn't be able to sustain our rent, food and bills etc once I dropped to SMP.

We would only be able to do it by saving a considerable amount before hand to effectively top up my wages during that time.

It's crazy really, I don't understand why SMP can't be linked to your earnings or you can't take a government loan to be deducted from either parent in the future.......I know so many couples now who would love to have children and have worked all their adult lives but they just cannot afford to have children due to high mortgage costs and employers that only offer SMP.

Very sad.

Because its very expensive to employers as it is and they chose to have a high mortgage?

jtr2803

Takeaway_Addict wrote: »

Because its very expensive to employers as it is and they chose to have a high mortgage?

But most employers who only pay SMP will be able to reclaim 92% or 100% of that money from the government so it's not 'costing' them much at all, even if they have to pay another person to do that job, yes I am excluding training periods and recruitment costs etc.

Not every chooses to have a high mortgage, in some areas a home to raise a family is costly by default, here a reasonable 3 bed would set you back around £220k, my other half would only just be able to cover the mortgage on his own salary, let alone the additional bills without my wage. Even on our current monthly rental we would struggle.

I know there is no one size fits all solution but it is a shame that some people who try to do things the 'right' way are those who usually end up struggling, or having to put off having children for such a long time because of it. I completely understand having a children is a choice but I do feel more could be done to ease the financial burden.