The Motherhood Price: Women Forfeit £65,618 in Pay by Age Their Child Turns Five Years Old

Official data indicate that women experience a significant loss of £65,618 in income by the time their eldest child turns five, exposing the so-called “motherhood penalty” that risks their financial security.

Significant and Enduring Pay Reduction

Mothers in the UK face a “considerable and enduring drop” in their income following having children, as they become less likely to stay in paid employment, as stated by analysis.

Research found that mothers’ average each month income had dropped by forty-two percent, or £1,051 per month, 60 months after the birth of their eldest baby, compared with their pay 12 months before the child’s arrival.

Cumulative Losses Across Several Children

This equates to a loss of £65,618 across a five-year period, per the research, which tracked pay information from 2014 through 2022.

Typically, there is an extra loss of £26,317 following the birth of a second child, and then a further £32,456 following the arrival of a third child.

Women are getting “penalized for parenting, sidelined at their jobs, and assumed to just absorb the expense.”

“And, the more children you have, the steeper the fall. This isn’t a gradual decline - it’s a financial freefall causing financial damage of more than £100,000 for a woman of three children.”

Catastrophic Impact on Living Standards

Analysts described the reduction in pay as “catastrophic for women’s living standards.”

“Income is freedom, and depriving mothers of that freedom because they chose to become parents is nothing short of scandalous.”

The figures mirror the unjust situation for employed women, with calls for family leave policies to be brought into the modern era.

“Addressing the motherhood price needs bringing family leave policies into the 21st century, making sure all parents and partners get sufficient compensated time off when they become caregivers – we should adequately accommodate parenthood alongside work, not in spite of it.”

Existing Parental Leave Rules

Joint parental leave was introduced in recent years, allowing parents to share up to 50 weeks of time off, and up to over eight months of earnings after the birth or adoption of a child.

But, uptake has remained minimal.

Under existing regulations, mothers’ leave is paid at ninety percent of a mother’s typical each week pay for the first one and a half months, then drops to the lowest of either £187.18 a per week or 90% of the woman’s average pay for 33 weeks.

Expectant dads can take two weeks’ paid time off at a amount of either £187.18 a week or 90% of average weekly pay, whichever one is lowest.

Government Review and Childcare Support

The government has promised positive steps from establishing flexible working the default, to enhanced safeguards for pregnant women and day-one paternity rights.

Yet with childcare funding for children aged nine months plus just now being introduced and nurseries in some areas finding it hard to meet need, there’s yet a considerable distance to go before women are on an level playing field.

Recently, employed mothers and fathers who have an income below £100,000 a annually became eligible for 30 hours of state-supported childcare a per week during school terms for kids from nine months to four years old.

The roll-out comes as the childcare sector encounters staffing and funding difficulties.

A survey found that 94% of nurseries were likely to raise their fees for ineligible families.