WHy are you paid such a low maternity pay of just over £100 per week?

Question

I earn £1800 per month and will be losing almost £1400 per month. Thats dreadful to be penalised for having a baby like this.

Answer 1

you're lucky here in the us most of the companies do not have paid maternity leave, so you don't get anything until you go back to work!

Answer 2

well you choose to have a baby other mothers have £100 per week and considering you wont be doing anything at all for that £100 i think its fair jobseekers allowance is only about £50 per week try and save some money each week until you go on maternity leave you are in a better position then many of us i dont get paid any where near £1800

Answer 3

I am assuming you are not in the US, be lucky you get paid anything at all. We get 6 weeks maternity leave by law, but the company doesn't have to pay you. I don't know of one single American company that pays you during those 6 weeks. Most companies you can even loose you health insurance since you arn't working so you can't pay the premium. I have had 3 children and lost a full 6 weeks of pay each time. That is if you work up to the day you give birth. If you leave work earlier before you give birth you loose pay for that time as well.

Answer 4

With free prescriptions for you and your child, free dental care, Child benefit (until 16 years of age), working Tax credit, and your child educated at expense of all tax payers, you will get your money back.

You will only be off work for 6 months, hence £8,400 will soon be made up.eg The NHS maternity plan is 10 weeks full pay, then something like 12 weeks half pay. We saved around £1200 to cover the shortfall of our last maternity leave, and have done so this time. Those who earn more can save more.

You didn't mention any Maternity benefit paid by your employer, only the bog standard DSS payment. Convenient to forget this?

If you are looking at this pregnancy in pounds and pence, rest assured your "investment" will mature when you retire and rely on your child to prop up your pension with their hard earned taxes. I just hope they don't feel as bitter for stumping up, as you evidently do.

BTW, I think it terrible for you to be thinking that you consider that having children is penalising.

Answer 5

I know it's bad isn't it!

I nearly had a heart attack! Luckily I've just had all the paperwork come through from HR and they have said because I have been in my job for a certain amount of time I qualify for contractual maternity pay which is full pay for 26 weeks and then I get the £108 a week for a further 13 weeks and a further 12 weeks with no pay if I want it.

Look into it, you might qualify to.

Answer 6

I totally agree with you, it is unbelievable that a government that is so ready to support unwed mothers penalises family units.
As for the people who have been saying that we should be grateful for whatever the government grants - we are hardworking people who have put in a lot of time and effort to get where we are - and to earn what we now do - and we are not asking for charity.
We have the right to expect to have time off to care for our babies for a decent interval - not six weeks - with out having to undergo severe financial difficulty - BECAUSE we have already made a significant contribution to the nations coffers having paid huge amounts of taxes.
Funtastic, I am in the same predicament you are - I am at my wits end wondering how on earth to manage. At this rate - only those already on benefits can actually afford to have babies - no wonder that 1 in 4 youths are yobs - decent people who could raise decent children simply cant afford to have them!

Answer 7

If you have been with your company since before you got pregnant then you are entitled to 90% of your earnings for the first 6 weeks.
Also bear in mind that the maternity pay you get is not taxed. So you have to compare it to your take home pay and not your gross pay.

It does suck though and it's not enough to live on. But I am in a worse position than you - I am a mature student so I get absolutely nothing!

Answer 8

i couldnt agree with you more. if you're a single mum you get everything paid for you, if you're a decent hardworking family you get pennies. I am in the exact same situation as you. I have been with my husband for four years and we desperately want a baby but I don't know how on earth we are going to afford it. The only thing ive come up with is going straight back to work after the birth, but I would feel so bad doing that and i want to stay at home with my baby for at least the first year, but theres no way i can. labour only ever care about the single mums, vote tory. if they get in they will actively support marriage through the tax and benefits system, not the lazy scroungers like labour do.

Answer 9

you should have thought of that then, and saved before you fell pregnant.

For the first 6 weeks you get 90 percent of your pay anyway.

At the end of the day, you do not have to take your maternity leave if it worries you that much, you can go back to work, though then you will also have to pay out for childcarew.

Its money for nothing at the end of the day, you should be grateful.

I live in the uk

Answer 10

Some people don't get anything while on maternity leave. You're not being penalized, its still a benefit. Actually working and not getting any pay would be penalizing you.