SerpApi.Org
Victoria Newton feels torn when it comes to returning to work after having her second baby.
Even though she would love to take more time with her new baby, she will have to return to her job in financial technology after six months when her company’s generous maternity leave runs out as she knows the UK’s statutory maternity leave will not cover the bills.
But due to the fact that funded childcare hours do not kick in until the term after a baby turns nine months, Victoria will face the cost of childcare rocketing from £400 for one child to almost £1,600 for two children for three days of nursery for the first four months of her return to work.
“The statutory maternity leave in the UK is so appalling that so many women are being forced to choose between their career and being a stay-at-home mum,” she told The i Paper.
“If maternity leave was better funded, I would stay off nine months with my second baby, like I did with my first, but we can’t afford to do this as we need my salary. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to cover our mortgage and childcare costs.”
Victoria, 34, who lives in Surrey, is married with two sons – a three-year-old and a five-week-old baby. As the breadwinner in the household and having to grapple with a newly increased mortgage rate and childcare costs, she knows that statutory maternity leave would not be enough to cover their bills.
She says the only reason she was able to afford even the six months off was down to the generosity of her company maternity policy, which gives her full pay for the first 12 weeks and then 75 per cent pay for the next 12 weeks.
After that, she would only get statutory maternity pay, which is £194.32 a week – or 90 per cent of your average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.
“When I found out I was pregnant with our second baby, my husband sat down and did the sums and from a finance point of view, it was better for me to go back to work after the six months of my company-funded maternity pay,” she said.
“My employer has been amazing and it is an incredibly generously funded maternity leave for six months. But the onus shouldn’t be on employers to provide generous packages and if it wasn’t for that, I couldn’t even have afforded to have the six months off.”
New research shows eight in 10 new mums are being forced back to work early from their maternity leave.
Maternity campaigner Pregnant Then Screwed’s State of the Nation survey 2026, in partnership with Women in Data, has revealed that 82 per cent of mums who cut their maternity leave short do so because they cannot make it work financially.
One of the significant barriers for many is the 39 week statutory maternity pay cliff. At this point, statutory maternity pay drops to zero, leaving those without enhanced pay forced to either suffer financially or return to work.
Victoria suffered from postnatal depression after having her first baby, who was born by emergency Caesarean Section.
She is not suffering from postnatal depression this time, but feels saddened that she is not able to stay off longer with her second baby.
“Our mortgage is over £1,000 a month as we lost our wonderful interest rate from five years ago. So it went from a rate of 1.63 per cent to 4.39 per cent.
“We are middle class earners so in terms of help, we are not entitled to anything extra. We are entitled to the funded free childcare hours, but for the first four months after I return to work, we will have to pay full price childcare for my youngest son.
“This means our monthly childcare bill will go up by 300 per cent as we will go from paying £400 a month for our first child who receives the free funded hours, to just under £1,600 a month for both children, for three days a week at nursery.
“Then after April next year, the term after our youngest turns nine months, the childcare costs will come down to £800 a month.”
Victoria says that with countries such as Norway and Germany having much better state funded childcare provision, she feels the UK is lagging behind and that it is a short sighted measure.
“Maternity and paternity leave is chronically underfunded in the UK,” she said.
“If it was easier for people to manage on statutory maternity and paternity leave, I think you would have less people reliant on the funded hours of childcare, because they would be able to afford to take the full year off. There would also be less of a scramble for nursery places.
“It is not fair that some women are having to choose between their careers and staying at home with their children.”
Rebecca Horne, head of campaigns and communications at Pregnant Then Screwed, said: “Parents are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
“Many mothers would love to stay off for the whole of their maternity leave, but they simply can’t afford it. Maternity pay is so low that they’re forced back to work early, yet the childcare costs of returning before nine months can be eyewatering.
“No mum should have to choose between keeping a roof over her family’s head and spending time with their baby, but that’s exactly the choice they face when maternity leave is funded below the national living wage.”
A Government spokesperson said: “Our ongoing parental leave and pay review is exploring how we can better support working families – making the system fairer and easier to use.
“The review will conclude early next year, and the findings will help us set out next steps for any reforms.”
