in January 2024 Babies 🇬🇧

How do you split finances with partner while on maternity pay?

My maternity pay is not great, 2 months full pay 2 months half and then statutory. My partner thinks we should continue to split the mortgage, bills and all costs in half. He earned about 8k more than me on our pre maternity salaries. I could probably last the 9 months with some serious budgeting at this rate, but is that fair? I’m starting to think not, especially as my career is on hold during this time and will be impacted for long after I go back to work…I know this is personal to each couple but I’m curious to know how other people worked it out and the decision making process, TIA 😊

Show your support

it’s true every person is different and in different situations, but personally i feel like your man shouldn’t be asking you to split 50/50 regardless if you’re pregnant or not. he should pay all, if not, at least most bills because men should be the providers. and that’s also ESPECIALLY because he makes so much more than you (and im assuming you guys aren’t even in dire need of financial support since he made $8k+) AND because you’re pregnant with his child. he should be a father that provides for his family. i worked until 8 months (my husband paid rent and everything besides my car insurance and the phone bill). now that im unemployed, he pays everything with no complaints

We do what we did before I went on maternity leave, we put our wages into our joint account (minus whatever we need to cover personal bills that come out of our personal accounts, and what we put into our savings account) and do any expenses and the shared/household bills from the joint account. It wasn’t exactly 50/50 before I went on Mat leave (I worked part time, he earns more), and even less so now I am on Mat pay. I don’t think it’s fair that you’d pay 50% as you did before, when your income has drastically changed. I think only fair that as he’s earning more, he pays for more, even if it’s only temporary. But I’m also not in a relationship where I expect him to be the provider and pay for all of my bills… I have a career that pays well, we share household and parenting responsibilities and so only normal for us that we would share the financial responsibility that funds our lifestyle.

I just put all the SMP and child benefit into the joint bank account to go towards the bills. He deposits money for his share of the bills each month and he will top up to cover the shortfall on my side as the SMP and CB doesn't cover my share. Then he puts extra in it so I have like 'pocket money' lol I hate it. I actually saved a bit on the side when I was working so I wouldn't always have to ask for money or feel bad if I wanted to buy something for myself. If the baby needs anything I tell him and he sends me the money. We are married though so maybe different xx

With my Maternity pay I get full pay for 6 months, statutory for 3 months and then I'll take the next 3 unpaid, then I'll go back and use 7 weeks holiday pay so I'll have had 15 months off by the time I'm back at work. I'll pay what I can on my full time pay, have saved to take the year off but my partner has said he'll cover anything in the months I'm unpaid x

My partner earns 12k more thsn me. He was always paying more and Im on full pay mat leave ( shorter as will continue working from home) but still 50 % is unfair . We dont have a joint account, he calculated and shared who pays which expenses for example he pays mortgage, fuel ( I don't drive) insurance etc, I pay household bills, we both withdraw food/household money which we put in a cash pot for the month. We both save money ( he saves more but pays for bigger expenses like holidays, furniture). At the end of the day its all balanced. Child benefit Im sending straight to my children's savings account when received.

@kealani I feel this is a very typical comment. You are a partnership at the end of the day. My husband earns more than me and we split everything down the middle as much as we can. We provide together as a family as it’s my family too. We shouldn’t take our husbands/partners for granted.

@Sarah i get what you’re saying. but like i said, in other situations it’s different. if my man needs me to split bills with him, i would, and i do sometimes. but for the most part, he doesn’t ask me to because HE wants to pay it all. and idk her full story but the fact he makes more than $8k a check, it also doesn’t seem like he NEEDS her to pay half. and aside from that, i worked up until i was 8 months pregnant and everything i earned went into my savings, which has helped a lot when he took 2 weeks off for our baby. we don’t have a joint account, but in short i’m basically his “savings” and i don’t pay anything unless needed

My husband and I earn very similar And everything goes in the joint account, most of the bills come out of my account so I transfer what is needed there and to the savings acct and what is left in our joint account throughout the month is for food and miscellaneous. We plan on saving for maternity leave to cover the difference in pay.