2025 marks 50 years since the Employment Protection Act of 1975, which introduced the first maternity leave legislation.
Ali Fiddy, director of family charity Maternity Action, says the system has become “outdated” and is pushing for better maternity pay and leave options.
“Our critically low level of maternity pay is pushing pregnant women and new mothers into debt and poverty, with implications for the Government’s pledges for closing the gender pay gap, making work pay for women, tackling child poverty and improving maternal and infant health,” she said.
Forced into debt
Fiddy was speaking as the charity reported the results of its annual survey on the Cost of Living on Maternity Leave.
It found that over half of new mums had resorted to credit cards, loans or borrowing from family to finance their maternity leave, with a quarter borrowing more than £4,000.
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Well over half (57%) of respondents had cut short their maternity leave because they can’t afford it, while almost all (97%) respondents worried a lot or sometimes about money.
Fiddy says that, to improve this situation, the Government should implement a programme of phased investment that delivers parity between maternity payments and the standard weekly National Living Wage.
The bare minimum
Most people receive 90% of their average earnings as maternity pay for the first six weeks of their leave, but unless employers choose to be more generous, this drops dramatically after that time, as those on leave are only entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP).
Those who are not entitled to SMP or who are self-employed can receive Maternity Allowance (MA), as long as they have paid sufficient National Insurance contributions (NICs).
At £187.18 per week, SMP and MA are now worth just 44% of the standard weekly National Living Wage and less than a third of women’s full-time average earnings – meaning that the average earning new mother could lose more than £17,000 over nine months’ maternity leave on SMP or MA.
“In the shorter term, the Government should aim to at least restore payments to their 2012 pre-austerity level of around two-thirds of the National Living Wage, which financial modelling has shown is achievable,” Fiddy said.
