Charity Pregnant Then Screwed, which carried out the research along with Women in Data, is calling on the Government to increase the rate of statutory maternity pay and maternity allowance to the national living wage.
Currently statutory maternity pay is 43 per cent of the national living wage at £184 a week after the first six weeks, which the charity says is causing ‘many families to experience financial hardship’.
Further research from Pregnant Then Screwed finds that the majority of mothers (76 per cent) have had to rely on some form of debt or withdraw money from their savings as a result of low statutory maternity pay.
One mother, Laura from West Midlands, had to return to work 11 weeks after giving birth as she couldn’t afford her mortgage repayments on low maternity pay. She said, ‘The parenting experience with my child has been greatly impacted. I have been overwhelmed with guilt over the limited bonding time we had in the early months due to my early return to work, which has impacted my mental health greatly.’
The research is based upon weighted findings from a survey of 35,800 respondents. Of those a nationally representative sample of, 5,870 respondents were selected. The sample is nationally representative across the UK population along gender, region, social grade and ethnicity. Weighting is based on the latest census and population estimations published by the ONS, NISRA and NRS.
Joeli Brearley, chief executive and founder of Pregnant Then Screwed, commented, ‘Maternity pay is an abomination. How is anyone meant to survive on £184 a week, which is less than half the minimum wage - the lowest amount someone can live on. The perinatal period is critically important to the health and well-being of a mother and her child, and I think we should all be deeply concerned that due to severe hardship, we are now seeing a degeneration and a degradation of this vital period. Ultimately, it is a false economy to not pay parental leave at a rate on which families can survive and thrive.
‘We need a Government that will listen to parents, creating policies which ensure they can survive and thrive, particularly in those early days. Right now we are falling way behind our European counterparts, and it is not only this generation which is suffering the consequences, but it will be the next.’
