Maternity pay

I got 6 months full pay as a benefit from my job (extremely lucky I know) then 3 months on statutory maternity pay. Including my holidays I had 11 months off.

I’m not entitled - missed it by a month. So I’ll get maternity allowance. I won’t be saving anything a month etc because the money I’d save I’ll be spending on baby things. I plan to be off for 6-9 months and then look to go back 1-2 days a week. I’ll save money because I won’t be travelling. Spending fuel. Lunch etc

I ended up leaving my job before I went on maternity leave but it was only statutory maternity pay for up to 1 year. I didn't get paid enough to be able to save anything 🥴 the plan was to take a year off but obviously now it's whenever I'm ready to find another job

@Mia 🌼 sounds like me. My job contract ends when I’ll be 25 weeks. So ill be off and go back whenever their another position available

I get 6 months full pay and then statutory for 3 months. I’m taking a full year off so I’ll be without pay for 3 months! I’ve tried to save in the run up to mat leave but with everything I’ve had to buy for baby it’s been hard! I get a bonus in March so will save that for the last few months when I’m not being paid. This is likely to be my only baby and my only chance to have a year off so I decided to go for it, even if I am skint!

I got an extra 3 months pay from my employer on top of SMP. I didn’t specifically save any money to go on mat leave, although I budgeted carefully while on it to make sure I had enough for the last 3 months. That plus the money from kit days was enough. I took the full 12 months, then at the end, I took all my annual leave accrued from my mat leave (32 days + bank holidays) so I ended up being off for nearly 14 months total.

@Leah I quit because the treatment I got was absolutely atrocious, I had to drag in HR to be allowed to sit on a chair behind the counter, and was treated like a huge inconvenience because I refused to work weekends when my daughter was at school all week. Turns out when you're a full time carer for your chronically ill husband you aren't required to work. I am almost 37 weeks so really any day now, and I'll probably be home with baby for at least a year before I even think about getting another job

I get 6 weeks 90% of my wage paid then for the rest of my mat leave I get SMP. I’m just making sure to put as much as I can away as emergency fund. I’m taking 9 months off x

Despite being in my company for 8 years and being an assistant manager, I only got statutory maternity pay, what a joke! I did take the full 52 weeks off, and also tagged on a month of accrued holiday on the end so I had about 13-14 months off in total. We always made it so our outgoings could be covered by one wage, so we didn’t have to ‘save’ for me to be on maternity leave.

I got 4 months full pay which they have now extended to 6 months (I missed the cut off🥲)and the rest smp I saved £4000 before baby was here, 2 was already in there, the rest I saved during pregnancy. I brought pretty much everything second hand except things like; bottles, dummies, mattresses I plan to be off for the whole year, I still get my bonus this year so I can add that to my savings + child benefit which is £100 a month And I’ve still got 5 weeks of annual leave to use aswell x

I got 6 weeks at 90%, then I think about 6 weeks at 70%, then about 6 weeks 50% then SMP so the last 3 months or so I get paid nothing. I’m returning just before a year and using all my KIT days in the 2 months before returning to try and stay off as long as possible. Didn’t save anything prior to maternity leave as was spending all my money on baby items getting ready for her arrival but will definitely be trying to save up before materni leave if I get pregnant again in future

@Mia 🌼 sounds like you worked in care !

I had to go off sick at 14 weeks due to severe PGP so was only entitled to maternity allowance for 9 months but I’ve been off work since March 2022 as I then got pregnant with my second child a year after the firsts birth and I’m now pregnant with my 3rd child due exactly 12 months after my 2nd was born so I’ll have 3 under 3 and won’t be going back until the youngest is 5 and at school, I didn’t save anything as didn’t really need to 😅

I'm on Statutory maternity pay. Had 90% for first 6 weeks. I am taking a year off so the last 3 months will be unpaid or I might go back after 11 months and take annual leave so will get paid for the last month x

I got 3 months full pay, 3 months half pay + statutory, 3 months statutory then 1-2 months unpaid. I went back after a year so taking into account annual leave my return to payroll was 5ish weeks before I started back so I got a full months pay before I went back. I work term time though so appreciate this is probably different from most people! I didn’t save a mad amount, couple hundred a month, just enough to cover my direct debits and standing orders, my husband picked up the slack for the bills!

Took 5 weeks holiday followed by 11 months maternity followed by 7 weeks holiday. I got full pay for the first 3 months maternity and then SMP with a £333 live out allowance from my employer which was paid for the entire 11 months which was really helpful. We were blessed that we could afford to live on just my partners wage which really helped so the smp paid for things like days out etc. We sold grown out of clothes etc on Vinted and bought the next lot with it so clothes and toys essentially paid for themselves x

I got nine months of full pay so quite significantly enhanced by my employer.

I work for the nhs, I get 8 weeks full pay, 16 weeks half pay, then the rest SMP. I took 9 months maternity leave and my 6 weeks annual leave entitlement that I saved before going off so was off for just over 10 months. They average your maternity pay from your earnings during certain weeks in your pregnancy so people who work in wards tend to do night shifts, weekends etc during those weeks to bump their earnings up. I didn’t bother with that as I’m a 9-5 worker. They also agreed to pay mine in equal instalments each month so although that meant I never benefited from the “full pay”, I got a consistent amount each month and never dropped to SMP x

6months full, 3mons SMP. Going back at 9months. Have accrued a lot of holiday days too (carried over from last year, entitled days and bank hols) so using them in chunks across the year and hoping to do little trips away. I know other work pals who used their accrued days as holidays on set days of the week so working full time but 3 or 4 day weeks for the first few months upon return.

@Leah a high street perfume retailer 👀

@Mia 🌼 haha sorry sounded like crappy care work where they expect you to work weekends

I get full pay 6 months then half pay 3 months but I’m taking a year off xx

90% for 6 weeks, then 50% for 12 weeks, then statutory. I'll be taking a year which means no pay for 3 months. My husband and I saved £12k each to fund my maternity leave.

I get 30 weeks full pay & 10 weeks SMP. I’m taking 11 months maternity leave total as all my accrued annual leave has to be taken within 3 months of my return. Accrued leave comes to just over 30 days. I finish on 9 May 2025 and will return on 1 June 2026. I have saved the equivalent of my salary for the weeks I’ll be unpaid.

I have 3 months full pay, 3 months 50% pay + smp, 3 months smp. I've taken the whole year off. You just need to look at your budget against what the shortfall will be to determine what you should save

I’ll be taking a year off and I have 6 months of pay and then SMP for 3 months and the last 3 months no pay. I’m saving 6 times my monthly salary to afford the same lifestyle / bills during the months I’m on SMP/Unpaid.

I have 6 weeks 90%, 4 weeks full pay and then 20 weeks half pay. I plan to go back to work after that, but it would be SMP after

I’ve told work a year off but will probably go back after 9 months. But my works mat package is 6 months full pay 3 months half pay and 3 months nothing if I was to take the full year I really didn’t do much saving I’ve just bought so much each month worked out where I can cut back on ‘luxury’ if I need to so baby girl has everything she needs etc