Mothers 'cannot afford' full maternity leave

New mothers are being forced to return to work early because they can't afford to take their full statutory maternity leave, a leading trading union has claimed.

A survey conducted by the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) found that 78% of new mums returned to work, on average, six weeks before their statutory maternity pay ran out, even though they would have liked to have spent more time with their baby.

Usdaw claimed that two-thirds of those who returned to work early had done so because they couldn't afford to stay off any longer. The union said that it would cost women on average £7,000 to take a full year off to look after a new baby.

John Hannett, Usdaw General Secretary, said: “That’s a huge sum of money for our members to lose and is what most families actually spend paying their household bills every year so this is the kind of financial blow that many low paid workers will take years to recover from."

The current maternity laws entitle women to take 26 weeks leave, regardless of how long they have worked for their employer. Women are paid Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) during that time – for the first six weeks women are paid at 90% of their average earnings, followed by twenty weeks of payments of £102.80 per week, or 90% of average earnings if they are less than that sum. Women are also entitled to take an additional 26 weeks of maternity leave, provided that they have completed 26 weeks of continuous service with their employer by the beginning of the fourteenth week of their expected week of childbirth. However, this additional leave is usually unpaid, although some companies do make a contribution.

The government announced plans last week to extend maternity leave to nine months, alongside additional plans to allow mothers to 'transfer' some of their leave and pay to fathers and also extend flexible working hours to carers of adults and parents of older children.

Mr Hannett said that Usdaw welcomed the plans to extend the length of maternity leave, but added: "We intend making the clear case for maternity pay to be increased.” He said: "Women have always had babies and will continue to do so, but what’s changed is that there are record numbers of women in work and so employers have to get to grips with this issue like never before. The fact is that most women will need to take maternity leave at some point in their lives so we are focusing on how we make pregnancy and maternity leave a positive experience for every woman not just those who can afford it."

(KMcA/SP)