Statutory maternity pay

How bad does it get!? I’m dreading it already, £700 is nothing to live off, does it get worse than £700!? Please let me know how much worse it gets😩
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You get 6 weeks at 90% pay and then it's £700 for 4 weeks. It doesn't go any lower, unless you take more than 9 months, then the next 3 are unpaid (if I remember right). But yeah, it's shit 🤷‍♀️

I'm not looking forward to it especially as my half of the mortgage and bills is £670.

Honestly it’s awful 😭 & thank you, @Giorgia so basically until the end of my maternity leave? I started maternity leave at the end of June/start of July and have received my first paycheck which is just over 700, is that right?x

I think it depends on your company policy. I got 90% for 3 months, 50% for 3 months then statutory at £600ish a month

It gets worse…. I get no statutory mat pay for the next 3 months so I’m living in savings 😔

Stat pay is 90% of your earnings for 6 weeks, £700-ish for 33 weeks and then unpaid if you wish to take any longer. You can do KIT days to make some money whilst on maternity leave. You can also use annual leave once your return to give you some pay, or use some towards the last few months that are unpaid. It seriously is terrible how little we are given!

@Katrina company policies are not considered ‘statutory mat pay’

I think stat pay is £184 a week, that you still have to pay tax and NI on. Not sure if pension contributions and student loans also come out of that! It’s terrible. The rest is employer dependent, I work for the NHS so get 8 weeks full pay, then 18 weeks at half pay, then down to SMP for 13 weeks, and then unpaid for a final 13 weeks if you can afford to take it. I also think you need to return to work for 3 months or you have to pay a portion back. This is considered a good maternity package and I’m already bricking it on how to live, pay mortgage and buy food!

@Beth thank you! & this is what I’m scared of, I’ll be looking at changing career because what I did before isn’t suitable with baby, 12 hour shifts etc, so will need to pay some back. Honestly awful

If all you claim is statutory there’s no requirement to pay it back. That only happens if your company pays you more than statutory.

@Gaby okay thank you!

It's horrendous that it's all we get but I did find I spent far less than i usually would being on maternity leave

Thank you everyone, appreciate your comments / advice ❤️

I got 90% for the first 6 weeks, now statutory which varies month to month (depending how many weeks in the month) but usually £630-670 per month

Unfortunately for myself it got worse as I was paying tax on my SMP… that was a very sad experience 😩

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The last month of pay can be lower depending when you get paid and when you went off so prepare for that.

I've been at my place of work less than 52 weeks, myself and my manager are confused on the guidance. I might end up with 6 months full pay, might end up with statutory. Absolutely bricking it as it's 1k less than my monthly wage

You can also surrender or freeze your pension, I pay £85 pcm so instead I'll get that paid to me during maternity instead of it going into the pot.

Make sure you sign up for the child benefit too if you are eligible xxx

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