Maternity Action and Unison have joined forces in a new survey that asked 1,400 mothers in the UK on maternity leave about their experiences. The research found that half of new mothers were buying less healthy food to save money and more than a third were skipping meals to feed their families.

Eating their children’s leftovers, brushing their own teeth to suppress hunger pangs and relying on friends and family for food parcels are just some of the measures that new mothers are resorting to, according to the survey.

One in twenty (5%) women said they had even gone as far as occasionally not eating all day to reduce spending on food because they were so worried about increasing living costs.

At the moment, statutory maternity pay is available to new mothers for up to 39 weeks and it works out as 90% of the mother’s average weekly earnings before tax for the first six weeks, and then the lower amount of either £172.48 or 90% of their average weekly earnings for the next 33 weeks.

Maternity Action and Unison are sharing the survey results and their concerns that some women are cutting their maternity leave short, skipping meals and making other desperate choices because they can’t afford to live on the current statutory maternity pay.

A recent survey has revealed new mums are skipping meals due to a lack of decent maternity pay