“The financial tension of having a child left me suicide – it is time for the mothers to be quite compensated”
“Suddenly I felt as if everything I had ever worked crashed around me, suddenly I was losing everything,” says Grace Carter. “The idea of losing my business seemed to lose a child.
“I really fought.”
After trying for years to have a second child, the 33 -year -old was very happy when he gave birth to his daughter in November 2023.
However, he says to the independent that he was left suicide due to the financial tension of having a child And he is still in a huge debt after trying to keep his business and his young family afloat.
Mr. Carter, from Colchester, has since united calls For maternity salary to combine the national life salary, And he asks that the “economic contribution of mothers is appropriately recognized and compensated”.
He said he received a maternity statutory (SMP), who works at the equivalent of a full -time worker in a week of 37.5 hours who earned about £ 4.99 per hour after the first six weeks of maternity leave. This is only 41 % of the National Living Wage (NLW) of 2025 of £ 12.21 per hour, which has been established to guarantee a basic standard of life.
Mr. Carter-Che is the founder of the Metamorphose Group, a collective of brands led by the purpose aimed at changing the life of women and girls, who built the combined effects of his being without work for eight years-year, as head of his company, e The discrimination it has faced He led to the annual turnover of his activity to reduce almost half, from an average of £ 600,000 to £ 350,000 of that year, and was forced to borrow £ 140,000.
Since then the mother of two founded the parental poverty campaign and launched a petition Asking the government to collect legal maternity and paternity remuneration to combine the NLW.
Carter said: “At a minimum, if the government is imposing that you shouldn’t work for less than the NLW as it is not sustainable or ethical, then we cannot suggest to people who have children live in the middle of that.”
The government said that the new mothers are entitled to 52 weeks of holidays and 39 weeks of SMP, with the rate that increases from £ 184.03 to £ 187.18 per week since April, while it is also intended to carry out a review of the wider legal parental leave.
Three out of five waiting and neodaries report cash concerns that affect their health, and almost a quarter are going without food to make sure they can feed their families, according to a survey of over 1,000 conducted by the maternity action this month.
The head of the charity policy Judith Dennis said: “Unfortunately Grace Carter is not alone in his experience of financial suffering on maternity’s remuneration … We support Grace’s request for equality between national salary and the remuneration of motherhood, a call made on all political parties before the general elections”.
Katie Guild, co-founder of Nugget Savings, a company focused on the transformation of the remuneration of parental leave, said: “We must remember that having a child is incredibly productive for society. We are increasing the future generation of taxpayers, customers and workers. Without it, our economic future seems Stark, which is why so many governments are concerned about birth rates.
“The penalty sanction constitutes 80 % of the gender salary gap, and this begins with the remuneration of maternity. The time has come for the economic contribution of mothers which is adequately recognized and compensated. This begins by increasing the remuneration of government motherhood to the minimum national wage.”
Ms Carter said she had suffered a traumatic abortion in January 2022, during which she blew and had to be revived, leaving her with depression and complex PTSD. But he said he had to return to work within three days of the exit, against the advice of his doctor, due to the lack of financial support available for her as an entrepreneur.
Following that abortion, he said that his pregnancy with his second daughter was stressed and that she was left to need a blood transfusion after a Caesarea section. It was when he was recovering in the hospital that he said that his phone started notifying her on the problem after the problem within his company.
“I had no choice – if I hadn’t worked, the company would have gone under,” Carter said. “I worked too hard, for too many years, and I did too many sacrifices for this.
But he said he was nervous to do it, because to be able to benefit from the small maternity salary he had to receive, legally he was not allowed to work more than 10 days to “take me into account”. He has again highlighted the unique challenges that he said that unexpected women who have children have to face, are self -employed and responsible for their activities.
He said he ended up doing everything you need to prevent his company from going under, but no longer, but the business has still suffered significantly accordingly. He was following this that his mental health really started to suffer, that he blames the financial pressure in which he was underneath.
Mr. Carter, who recently provided evidence to the Committee for women and the egalities on this issue, said: “We are working in a world built for and by men. Nobody is talking about having a child and the impact of having a child in a company. A year, he is not yet going to the government’s agendas. I thought I had enough, I intend to start making a campaign for change.”
A government spokesman said: “The law is clear: nobody should face discrimination because they are pregnant or are taking on parental leave. Legal maternity remuneration and maternity allowance have aroused every year and are only a support element available for pregnant women and new mothers, who can also be suitable for universal credit or the benefit of children.
“While setting the bases of the economy, we are arousing benefits and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families making changes to universal credit deductions to help low -income families and improve everyone”.
If you have feelings of anguish or you are fighting to cope, you can talk to the Samaritans, in trust, out of 116 123 (United Kingdom and Roi), send an email to Jo@samaritans.org or visit the Samaritans Website to find the details of the nearest branch.
If you are based in the United States and you or someone you know you need mental health assistance right now, call or send a message 988 or visit 988Lifeline.org To access the online chat from the Suicidal Life Line and 988 crisis. This is a free and reserved Hotline of crisis that is available for everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befriends.org To find a line of assistance near you
