Growing your family, by birth, adoption or fostering, is huge news. It’s also one of the biggest financial shifts you’ll go through, but the cost side of it shouldn’t be what takes the shine off it.
A handful of real numbers make the biggest difference here: how much income you’ll actually have coming in, what childcare will cost and how much support you can expect from family. Get those sorted early, and you can spend your energy on the family part, not the finances part.
If you’re planning this with a partner, or leaning on family for childcare, here’s what’s worth working through before your family grows.
What will you actually be paid?
In the UK, if you take parental leave, you’re entitled to a legal minimum level of pay. Depending on which leave you take, it’s called Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay or Statutory Shared Parental Pay. “Statutory” just means it’s the government-set minimum your employer has to pay you, set each April. It comes through your normal payroll, and your employer claims most of it back from HMRC afterwards, so from your side it should simply show up as pay each month.
For maternity leave, that minimum works in two stages. For the first six weeks, you get 90% of your average weekly earnings. For the next 33 weeks, you get whichever is lower: £194.32 a week, or 90% of your earnings. Paternity Pay and Shared Parental Pay use the same flat rate.
Here’s what that means in real money. On a £30,000 salary, the first six weeks pay around £519 a week. From week seven, pay drops to the flat rate of £194.32 a week, about £842 a month, and stays there for 33 weeks. That’s 39 weeks paid in total. Take the full year available and the last 13 weeks are unpaid unless your employer tops this up.
Many employers add enhanced pay on top of the statutory minimum for a set period. Ask HR in writing exactly when that ends and the statutory rate takes over. That’s the point a budget needs to flex.
Build two budgets
One budget covers the leave period itself, when income drops and a wave of new costs lands at once. A second covers life once you’re both back at work, when childcare becomes a permanent line in the budget rather than a one-off.
For the leave-period budget, split your current spending into three piles: what continues as normal (rent or mortgage, utilities, insurance, subscriptions), what pauses or shrinks (commuting, work lunches, some socialising) and what’s new. The new pile is where most of the surprises live, so it helps to go in with rough numbers rather than guessing:
| Item | Estimated cost in the first year (MoneyHelper) |
| Nappies, wipes and toiletries | £500 to £700 |
| Formula, if you’re using it | £800 to £1,000 |
| Cot | Around £125 |
| Moses basket | From £70 (buy new for safety) |
| Pram or travel system | £150 to £600, second-hand is fine if it’s in good condition |
| Car seat | £100 to £500 (buy new for safety) |
| Baby monitor | £30 for audio monitors with video monitors starting around £50 |
Most families spend somewhere between £3,000 and £6,000 on kit and consumables in the first year: at the lower end if you buy second-hand where it’s safe to (clothes, cots, prams) and new where it isn’t (mattresses, car seats). On top of that, check whether life insurance or your will needs updating, and whether your car insurance needs to reflect it now being the family car.
For the post-return budget, childcare is the number that changes everything (more on that below), but also check whether Child Benefit applies. It’s currently £27.05 a week for an eldest or only child.
Price up childcare early
Childcare is usually the biggest new cost in the household budget, bigger than the mortgage in a lot of the country. Good nurseries and childminders fill up fast too, so it’s one of the first things to price up.
Working parents in England get help with this through the 30 hours funded childcare entitlement. In plain terms: once your child turns nine months old, if you (and your partner, if you have one) both work at least the equivalent of 16 hours a week at minimum wage, and neither of you earns over £100,000 a year, the government pays for 30 hours of childcare a week. It only covers 38 weeks of the year though, roughly term time, not all 52 weeks.
Here’s what that means in real cost. According to the Coram Family and Childcare Survey 2026, a full-time (50 hours a week) nursery place for a child under two in England costs £148.82 a week once you’re using the 30 funded hours. Without them, the same place costs £372.06 a week. Wales and Scotland don’t offer this entitlement to under-twos, so costs there stay much closer to that higher, unfunded figure.
On top of the entitlement, Tax-Free Childcare tops up whatever you set aside for childcare by 20%, up to £2,000 a year per child (£4,000 if your child is disabled), and you can use it alongside the funded hours. Between the two, get an actual quote from two or three local nurseries or childminders rather than working from national averages, since your own bill will depend on where you live and how you use the entitlement.
If grandparents or in-laws are offering regular childcare, agree on the details while it’s still a nice conversation rather than after the first missed pickup: what “regular” actually means, whether there’s a contribution towards fuel or costs, and what the backup plan is if they’re unavailable.
Protect income and pension contributions
During leave, one income often ends up carrying the whole household, which is exactly the moment to check what’s protecting it. Look at what’s already sitting there through work, since death-in-service cover and income protection are the sort of thing everyone forgets they have. Then check the number itself: would it actually stretch to the mortgage, childcare and the weekly shop, or does it just look reassuring on paper?
Your pension can take a hit too, and it’s easy to miss. Pension contributions are usually a slice of your pay, so when pay drops, so does your contribution, and your employer’s match can shrink right along with it. A quick conversation with HR settles most of it: do contributions stay on your full salary during enhanced pay, do they drop once you hit the statutory rate, and can you top up voluntarily to close the gap?
Have the conversation with the right numbers
Bring the maternity pay figures, a childcare quote and a rough budget to the conversation. That way you’re making decisions together, not working out the basic facts in the room. Separate the emotional conversation about family help from the financial one about what that arrangement actually costs. Put a date in the diary to revisit it, since maternity pay steps down at different points and childcare needs change as a baby gets older. Write down what’s agreed: even a short note covering who’s contributing what and from when saves confusion later.
And finally, congratulations! Getting these numbers straight now means more headspace later for the part that actually matters: the sleepless nights, the tiny socks, the introductions to the wider family.
If you’d rather talk it through than work it all out alone, our financial coaches offer a free, no-obligation session to talk through maternity pay, childcare costs and pensions (it’s general guidance, not personal financial advice). You can bring your questions about maternity pay, childcare costs and pensions with you:
👉Book a chat with an Octopus Money expert
This article is for general information only and does not constitute personal financial advice. Tax rules can change and their impact depends on your individual circumstances. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invest.
