“It makes the assumption that the woman is bringing in less money and that it’s OK if it’s less than what she’d usually earn' 🤰 Statutory maternity pay forces us back to work way too early, mums say 🔴 AasmaDay
– based on a 35-hour week at the adult rate of £9.50 an hour – and says the failure of maternity pay to keep up with the dramatic increase in the cost of living is driving more pregnant women and new mothers into poverty and hardship.
“The assumption when maternity pay was brought in was that you would have the statutory provision and that employers would pay on top of that – and some employers do – but a lot don’t.and there are a lot of women in financial difficulties as a result of the very low rates of maternity pay. Laura Leadbeater, 32, who lives in Leeds with her husband, has three children and is currently on maternity leave with her son Jake who is three months old. She knows her time at home with him is limited because she is returning to work in another three months as they can’t afford for her to take any more time off.
Laura, who is head of talent and marketing at a recruitment firm, explains that she gets 90 per cent of her pay for the first six weeks of maternity, which then drops to statutory maternity pay – currently £156.66 a week – until around nine months, She could then technically choose to take another three months unpaid, but says there is “zero chance of me being able to afford to do that”.
“But that isn’t the case for us or for a lot of families and it has been a huge blow to our finances.”after having a baby – where they can share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay between them – but she says in reality, it is still overwhelmingly women who take leave after having a baby. “Let’s be honest, one of the reasons women have maternity leave is because they’re also recovering after the ordeal of giving birth. It’s not just about being off with the baby.
Laura believes that if statutory maternity pay was tied to the cost of living, it would be a huge boost to families like hers and benefit people’s mental health. “At the moment, it feels like I am constantly worrying about money, which takes its toll when you’re meant to be enjoying your baby,” she says.she is already worrying and has had sleepless nights because she knows she won’t be able to have as much time off as she would like with her new baby due to money pressures.
“But then we got the news about me being made redundant and then I had to take a pay cut with my new job and with the cost of living crisis, all our bills have now gone up.”Amy says she is desperately trying to save £100 a month during her pregnancy to help cover the time she is on maternity leave and her partner is saving as well to help tide them through that period while she’s on statutory maternity pay.
“We felt very scared when everything happened with me being made redundant and having to take a pay cut as it was so unexpected, especially with me being pregnant. Joeli Brearley, founder of Pregnant Then Screwed, says: “We have the third-worst ranking maternity benefit and the least generous paternity benefit in Europe.
In contrast, the UK offers new mothers up to 52 weeks of maternity leave. However, they are entitled to 90 per cent of their average weekly pay for just the first six weeks. In Ireland, new mothers get 42 weeks of maternity leave with €245 paid weekly for the first 26 weeks., the campaign for more flexible working for everyone, tells“They are sellotaped together at the seams and are utterly exhausted from responding to the every whim of their newborn babies.
“In the face of the current cost of living crisis, we are seeing the implications of this in the most dramatic way as new mothers are forced to go back to work early and to queue up at food banks with their newborns,” she says.
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