Maternity leave for primary earner

ninadam

hi op, i am another one in similar position. my oh is a self employed plasterer, he can earn more/same per month as me.... but he also has times where work dries up & he earns nothing!my job is steady/good full time hours (9:15-4:45)/good hols/5mins from home & ok money so i want to keep it but have 9months off. we are just starting saving money at the moment so it will top us up when im on maternity leave.
the financial side has made me think if i really want kids or not.... i do but it does scare me!
N x

fluffnutter

jtr2803 wrote: »

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.

It's a complex situation. Why should an employer effectively pay two people to do one job? And many people have high mortgage costs simply because they like living in a big house? We do have extraordinarily expensive housing in this country but even so, people have choices. I'd love to move, but I'd love to stay at home with my child more, therefore on my OH's salary alone we've got to stay put.

Children aren't a right that society should fund. People should realise that sacrifices need to be made. To be fair, I think most do but it's surprisingly common the number of people who say they *need* a second salary when a little bit of digging reveals that that 'essential' second salary is to fund two cars, foreign holidays, an enormous mortgage, a wardrobe full of expensive clothes and private education for the kids

jackomdj

[QUOTE=fluffnutter;60387703

Children aren't a right that society should fund. People should realise that sacrifices need to be made. To be fair, I think most do but it's surprisingly common the number of people who say they *need* a second salary when a little bit of digging reveals that that 'essential' second salary is to fund two cars, foreign holidays, an enormous mortgage, a wardrobe full of expensive clothes and private education for the kids [/QUOTE]

Great post, the second job bit I agree with, but I think these are valid reasons if that is what you as a family want and you don't expect the government to pay for it all.

amancalledmartin

Thanks again for responses. My OH is also self-employed and earns minimum salary and takes dividends when he can. Our current outgoings are about £1,400 a month, which I don't think is overly excessive. We could certainly cut back, and would have to if we had a child. I don't mind doing that because it would be my choice. We're both currently happy with our work situation. I don't want to push him out to a full-time job he'd hate and have myself leave a job I love to suit society saying I have to be a full-time mum. But a lot of this is my own guilt. A lot to think about!

Regarding employers' situations - I do agree that it would be tough on an employer (especially a small business) to have to pay two salaries (yours and your temporary cover) just because you want a baby. But also, in my job, I work a lot of extra hours unpaid and really go above and beyond. Certain jobs and industries should allow a bit of lee-way if they value their employees I think.

pippa80

If an employer is only paying statutory maternity pay, then they are not paying for someone to do the job twice. The government refunds employers the statutory pay so they are not out of pocket.

You can already split the maternity leave and pay after the first 20 weeks. OP this might be a possibility for your family, as your OH will receive statutory pay and you will be bringing in more from your salary once you return. Information here on additional paternity leave:

https://www.gov.uk/paternity-pay-leave/leave

lovecake

I am in a similar position too. I'm the higher earner in the house and am 6 months pregnant.

As soon as we thought about 'trying' I started putting money into an ISA to use to top up my SMP. I'll be on the statutory 90% for 6 weeks and then £135 a week after that - up until 39 weeks (after which you get nothing). I think this may have already been mentioned, but the simple answer is to start saving. Open an ISA or savings account, work out what the shortfall in your wages will be and try to put as much as you can in to top it up.

I'll be losing about £150 a week taking into account what I'll get for SMP and Child Benefit - now there's no way I can save £150 a week, but then I won't be going out for lunches/dinners, treating myself to things or going on holiday for the time that I'll be off so I don't need to top up my income to that exact level. However I am saving as much as I can to help cushion the blow. Also (don't know if this has been mentioned too) but you might be entitled to some sort of benefit while you are on SMP e.g. child tax credit. I know I'm not entitled to it now, but I haven't looked into it for when I'm on SMP. Could be worth a try?

So in summary I would suggest you think about how long you'll be off for, work out your shortfall over that period of time, start saving, make cut backs now. Remember, even if you get pregnant right away you still have 9 months to save!

pandora205

Just to mention that you accrue the usual amount of holidays while on maternity leave so these could be used for the phased return to work. I did this many years ago, working half days for the first three months on my return due to leave.

Spendless

I think your answer is to save for the period whilst you will be on a reduced income. 3 months might not sound long but it's not that long ago that was the only paid maternity you got. Son is only just a teen and back then you got either 14 or 18 weeks paid maternity depending on how long you'd worked for your employer. Even with 10 year daughter, she was due 6 days before they changed paid maternity from 18 weeks to 26.

nikki2804

Suddenly realised that my employer actually has a good maternity package!

If your household income falls below £26000 you will be able to claim child tax credits. For the time you are off you can deduct £100 pw from your income i.e. when I claim my income would be £9000 - (39 weeks at £100) £3900, so I would only declare £5100 earning plus my partners income. Hope that makes sense?

Tupperware_Queen

when I had my first son I was by far and away the biggest earner. I had been forced to take mat leave early (I was unwell and didn't realise there were other options) so I had to return to work when he was a few weeks old (this was back in the day when you only got 16wks paid mat leave). I used holiday for one day a week for a bit, so I was only working 4 days a week, but it was horrendous. I hated every minute, but there was no way I could give up work, my husband at the time didn't even earn enough to pay half the mortgage!!

When I was pregnant with my second, well, even before then, when we decided to try for a baby, I saved every penny I could. I rang our payroll dept to find out exactly how much I would earn for how long, and I wrote out, by hand, monthly expenditure and income (I am sure you could do this on a spreadsheet now). The second time round I was able to have longer off, and went back to work part time when he was 4 months, and back to my normal (still part time, but more hours) when he was 7 months.

Don't forget that the sooner you start to save, the more you will have !!