Forced to return early – the impact of low rates of maternity pay

By Annah Psarros, Senior Policy Officer

Maternity pay in the UK is some of the lowest among comparable countries and the cost of living crisis has exacerbated the financial hardship experienced by new mothers and their families. Mothers are returning to work earlier than they would like in order to avoid long periods of low income – with potentially detrimental effects on their health and wellbeing.?

‘The terrible maternity leave conditions we have was already a worry, never mind the cost of living crisis we now face as well.’

Women in the UK have very low rates of maternity pay compared to their international peers. Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is paid for 39 weeks. The first six weeks are 90% of average earnings but this drops down to ￡172.48 per week for the remaining 33 weeks. Maternity Allowance – available to some (though not all) women who do not qualify for SMP, is paid at ￡172.48 for the full 39 weeks. Women, especially Black and Asian women, are overrepresented in low paid jobs with insecure contracts, leaving many without statutory benefits like maternity leave and pay. A shocking 9% of women take no maternity leave at all (not even the mandated recovery period) and for 11% of those women, the reason is that they simply cannot afford it.

‘I’m still getting check‐ups… I think, never mind the baby, I’m already back to work and my body hasn’t even healed!’

Today, just over 10 percent of women benefit from occupational maternity pay (additional maternity pay paid by employers) whereas fifteen years ago, this was just under half. For the vast majority, maternity leave means a substantial reduction in income –? to put this into perspective, women on basic rate SMP, or MA, are expected to live on less than half of the National Living Wage, or 37% of UK women’s median weekly earnings. To add insult to injury for women who do not qualify for SMP, MA is deducted in full from any Universal Credit (UC) award. This has led to a steep drop in MA applications in recent years, as women have realised it is pointless to apply, effectively shutting low income women out of maternity pay.

So how do new mothers and their families cope with, as one survey respondent put it, ‘less than half their normal income at the most expensive time of their lives’? For the last two years, Maternity Action has been researching the effects of the cost of living crisis on pregnant women and new mothers, through surveys and focus groups. In our 2023 Cost of Living Survey, nearly 3 in 5 respondents returned early from maternity leave, or were planning to do so, for financial reasons. Women who were consulted for our recent report A Perfect Storm told us about having no choice but to return to work after only a few months in order to start earning again, having built up debt just to cover everyday expenses. Current media coverage also indicates that the issue has started to become increasingly prevalent.

‘I had to go back to work when baby was only three months old. We couldn’t afford to live, we had to take a 5k loan to keep us afloat for those three months because maternity pay wasn’t enough.’?

Maternity leave is a time for healing from childbirth, bonding and establishing breastfeeding, for those who do so. Women who had cut their maternity leave short told us about the impacts of returning to work before they were ready, including coping with birth injuries, problems with bonding and mental health and having to give up breastfeeding against their will.

‘I really struggled with bonding, I’ve got the perinatal service involved but trying to spend time with her and to see perinatal services is just so difficult because I am the only one who is bringing in money.’

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‘I had to stop breastfeeding. They wanted me to make up the time at the end of the day. But then I had to pay an extended day’s childcare fee. We couldn’t afford to do that.?

Mothers, babies and families deserve better than this. In our recent report ‘A perfect storm: pregnancy, new motherhood and the cost of living crisis’, we make a number of recommendations to support the health and wellbeing of women on maternity leave and new mothers returning to work, including:

• Raising the basic rate of SMP and Maternity Allowance, to at least the level of National Minimum Wage.
• Extending the qualifying period for SMP for those with variable hours so that women on casual contracts are not disadvantaged.
• Uprating Healthy Start and Sure Start Maternity Grant in line with inflation and expanding eligibility criteria.?
• Rectifying the policy anomaly that treats Maternity Allowance as deductible from Universal Credit.

Join cost of living on maternity leave campaign here. Our new report: A Perfect Storm – pregnancy, new motherhood and the cost of living crisis, is available here.