'Maternity pay isn't excessive' says mum who saved £15K to afford a baby
Watch: Maternity pay isn't excessive - I had to save £15k to afford a baby
A new mum saved £15,500 for her maternity leave, so she could afford to take time off from work to have a baby.
After finding out she was pregnant in October 2023, Alice Gregory was "shocked" to discover the statutory maternity pay in the UK was just £184.03 a week.
Legally companies have to pay 90% of a salary for the first six weeks of a mother's leave, but Alice's employer paid her at that rate for 12 weeks. She's now moved onto the statutory rate, which works out as £736.12 (before tax) a month.
While pregnant, 30-year-old Alice, from Anglesey, Wales, planned for being off work for a full year and so ensured she saved enough to top up nine months of statutory pay. She wanted to ensure she wasn't reliant on her partner, Dion McGrath, 31, and his support carer salary.
Describing feeling a "pressure" to work to afford her own maternity leave, Alice saved £7,000 from her salary as head of marketing and £8,500 from side hustles such as completing marketing surveys and freelancing while pregnant.
"I thought maternity pay was a percentage of my wage," she explains. "But it's £2k less than what I'm used to. I have always been really independent. I stopped buying anything I didn't need. It's a different lifestyle for what I feel I have worked for. Now I have to think every transaction through and I only get necessities."
After her daughter's birth, three months ago, she continued to pick up freelance clients - and complete surveys - to keep her emergency savings pot topped up.
"I know I'm privileged I am able to save - some people can't afford to save anything. But, having gone from a career to earning less than minimum wage just because you've had a baby is crazy," she says. "I'm lucky I have a partner who is really supportive - if you don't it must be an incredibly scary time."
Alice hopes to be able to take the full year of maternity but may have to go back sooner if energy bills continue to rise this winter. "It's the most important time in mine and my baby's life," she explains. "But it might have to be that I go back early. It would rob me of a whole three months. It's supposed to be the best time of your life. But there is this creeping anxiety about money."
Alice shares her story - which many women will relate to - in the wake of Tory leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch's suggesting maternity pay had "gone too far" and was "excessive". She later said she had been "misrepresented" and her comment had been on a wider point about cutting regulatory burdens on business.
"It's quite upsetting," Alice says about the comments. "For me personally it's a low amount of money. It's saying new mums: you're not worthy. But it's not in line with the cost of living. It's the most important time of your life - and it's not seen by the government."
Maternity leave in the UK: the facts
The cost of living crisis is having an impact on the health and wellbeing of pregnant women and new mothers on maternity leave, the charity, Maternity Action, has revealed in its third annual survey.
The survey of 1,039 women uncovered some key findings including:
A rise in the proportion of women who worried a lot about money while they were pregnant or on maternity leave from 64% in 2022 to 71% in 2023 and 73% in this year’s survey.
Nearly a quarter (23%) of women say they struggled a lot to buy the things they needed while pregnant or on maternity leave. Over half (54%) said that they struggled sometimes.
Over two-thirds (69%) were forced to reduce the number of hours they had their heating switched on, 63% had turned down their thermostat and 52% had turned the heating off in some rooms.
Around half of women were buying less healthy food and a quarter going without food themselves to prioritise feeding their children, while nearly two in five (38%) mothers were having smaller meals or skipping meals altogether.
The percentage of women relying on their credit card or having to borrow money has also risen from 51% in 2022 to 60% in 2023 and 62% in 2024. The number of women with more than £4,000 in maternity leave debt has risen from 17% in 2023 to 23% in 2024.
The percentage of women who said that money worries had affected their health or wellbeing while pregnant or on maternity leave increased from 56% in 2022 to 57% in 2023 and 65% in 2024.
Meanwhile, the number having to return to work earlier than they wanted to because of money worries has increased from 42% in 2022 to 58% in 2023 and 59% in 2024.
Additional reporting SWNS.
Read more about maternity leave
The rules around maternity pay in the UK, explained (Yahoo News UK, 4-min read)
Are 'keep in touch' work days helpful or stressful for new mums? (Yahoo Finance, 5-min read)
Call to double maternity pay amid fears mothers are skipping meals (PA Media, 2-min read)
