Families left £537 short each month during maternity leave

• Families are having children later than planned but household incomes still drop 30% to £2,181 during maternity leave – £537 less than the minimum amount needed to make ends meet

• Three in five (58%) families take on debt during maternity leave to cope

• One in two mothers (50%) are forced to return to work because they can’t afford to stay at home and 11% return purely to pay off their debts

• Shared Parental Leave law comes into effect 1st December 2014 yet one in three (32%) mums are still unaware of the new regulations.

Household incomes drop by 30% during maternity leave, driving three in five families (58%) into debt and forcing half of mothers back to work just to make ends meet. That’s according to Uswitch.com, the price comparison and switching service, who has released the findings ahead of the Government’s new Shared Parental Leave rules coming into force on 1st December 2014.

With statutory pay at only £138.18 a week, the research reveals that families who are having children later than planned suffer a dramatic household income fall from £3,121 to £2,181 a month. Worryingly, this is £537 less than the minimum amount families say they need every month to cover basic household essentials and the required budget for one parent to stay at home. To maintain a basic standard of living for their children, three in five (58%) mums take on an average debt of £2,012 during maternity leave.

The study reveals that almost a fifth (18%) of new mums cut short their maternity leave as they need the money. Of the 79% of women who return to work after their maternity leave, three in five (63%) do so because they can’t afford to stay at home, meaning that 50% of mothers are forced to return to work just to make ends meet. 11% of mothers return to work simply to pay off their debts.

Squeezed finances are also delaying some couples from having children, with over a quarter (28%) saying they had their child later than planned. Families on average are waiting three years later than planned to have their children, with one in six (18%) saying this was because they could not afford to have children any sooner.

On 1st December 2014, Shared Parental Leave comes into force allowing both parents to share up to 50 weeks of maternity cover between them. This comes at a time when 2.2 million mothers in the UK are the main breadwinner in the family, nearly double the number in 1998, and families are suffering when they lose this income during maternity.

Yet, the research reveals that one in three (32%) mums with children under four are unaware of this scheme and of those who are aware, 65% say it will have little or no impact on their decision to have another child.

Ann Robinson, Director of Consumer Policy at Uswitch.com, says: “The drop in income while on maternity leave can be crippling for families, particularly as one third of working mothers are the main breadwinner. The Shared Parental Leave legislation has the potential to alleviate some of the difficulties faced by parents, but it’s going to take a major awareness drive by the Government, not to mention a significant cultural shift in the workplace, for it to start having an impact.

“There is still a lot of work to be done to ease the strain on new parents, but in the meantime, families can help themselves by taking a long hard look at their household budgets to see where they can cut costs. Short-term debt solutions may seem an efficient way to fund spending, but they can also lead to long-term debt if not managed properly. Switching providers and managing expenses is a more effective approach and can make a big difference to the bottom line at the end of the month.”