# Government maternity pay



## JA1988

Hi girlies,

Just a quick question on something that has been worrying me. My LO is due on 31st December and the FOB decided almost straight away that he wanted nothing to do with it all, so he is signing away his rights (another story for another day!) but cutting a long story short I will obviously be a single mummy and very much looking forward to taking on the challenge :) 

However, I am a little bit confused/angry about the situation with stat maternity pay and hoping someone can help me out...my company pays full salary for the first 5 months which is fantastic and I am not complaining one bit :) but then after the 5 months all I will get is statutory maternity pay which I think is somewhere around £138 approx a week. My problem is that this is clearly not enough for me to live on when I have mortgage, car, insurance, bills, LO etc to pay for so I was wondering whether you are able to work whilst receving stat mat pay?? 

I don't want to be a scrounger, I just want what I am entitled to and it angers me that if I am not able to work part-time while claiming this then surely I will just have to forefeit the benefit and go back to work full-time, but then why should I miss out on a benefit that other mothers can afford to live off whilst being supported by their other halfs?!!

Can anyone shed any light on the rules surrounding all of this?!

Thank you :) xxx


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## suzib76

you are only able to work up to ten Keep In Touch days without losing your mat pay - if you go back to ordinary employment you would automatically lose your maternity


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## Aidedhoney

Once lo is born you will get tax credits and child benefit.........also whne smp kicks in you may be entitled to working tax credit all depends on salary etc etc.


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## auzelia

after your 5 months of full pay from your employer you will get a further 4 months of SMP which is £125 (approx) a week and is taxable if it comes via your employer and not via MA.

Once your baby is born you can claim Child benefit, Child tax credits and Working tax credits. The amount of the latter two depends on last tax years income.


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## sweetlullaby

What everyone else has said hun :hugs: x


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## Laura2919

Its actually closer to £118 and not £138! It is paid by the government and not your employer as your employer claims it back! Once LO is here you can get your child benefit and apply for working tax and child tax credits. Also you get your HIPG when your pregnant and you can go to your local job centre as they have grants that may apply to you.


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## JA1988

Thanks everyone, I have an appointment with CAB to find out roughly how much in terms of tax credits etc I will be able to claim, I just find it frustrating that if I was not single and had an income from an OH then I would be able to stay at home for that little bit longer and claim the stat pay that we are all entitled to, however as it is not enough to support my outgoings and LO I will have to forefeit the whole lot and go back to work. I was jus hoping there would be some way of working part-time to boost my income while still claiming stat pay, but it's looking like I will have to go straight back after my 5 months company pay. It is just a shame really as all I want to do is work hard to support myself and LO but as a single parent I will lose out :-s

I pay a mortgage, car finance, student loan repayments etc so my outgoings are around £1000 a month which means that there is no way I could live off statutory mat pay and child tax credits (£333 approx per month) so looks like it will be back to full time work for me!!


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## Laura2919

Your lucky you get 5 months lol. By law you get 6 weeks 90% paid and then it was £117.85 a week lol! Thats all I got. Dropped nearly £200 a week! :cry: I was only off for 4 months because I couldnt afford to be off any longer than that! 

Hope you get some help.


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## JA1988

Yeah I'm so glad I work for M&S lol :) But looks like I will definitely be going back after that stops :-s


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## Laura2919

Ahh its not good. I didnt have car finance back then but I do now and I couldnt imagine having to struggle. I hope you can sort something out


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