Maternity leave savings calculator
How much should you save before maternity leave?
There is no useful one-size-fits-all number. Your maternity savings target should reflect your own pay, leave length, household costs, baby spending and how much of your normal lifestyle you want to keep.
UK planning tool · 2026/27 rates · free to use
Start with the actual shortfall
The planner compares what may come into the household during leave with what you expect to spend. That gives a much more useful target than a generic rule such as saving three or six months of salary.
Keep baby purchases separate from normal life
Upfront baby purchases and ongoing monthly costs can be included explicitly, so the money needed for leave is not hidden inside a vague household estimate.
Decide what you are willing to change
You can model keeping life broadly the same or trimming discretionary spending temporarily. The point is not to judge the spending — it is to understand the trade-off.
Plan together without oversharing
If your finances are partly separate, each partner can work from their own side. The shared plan can use the resulting contribution without exposing every personal number.
Common questions
Maternity money planning, in plain English
How much money should I have saved before maternity leave?
It depends on the gap between your expected household income and spending during leave, plus any baby costs and emergency reserve you want to protect. Bump & Balance calculates that from your own figures.
Should I save based on gross salary or take-home pay?
For lifestyle planning, take-home pay is usually easier to recognise because it reflects what normally reaches your bank. Gross figures can still help with statutory-pay estimates.
What if I already have savings?
Add what you already have available and the planner reduces the remaining target rather than asking you to start from zero.
Can I see a weekly savings amount too?
Yes. Your results include both a monthly target and a weekly equivalent for the period before leave begins.
Replace the guess with your own maternity savings number.
Use your real household figures and leave plan to work out a target you can actually act on.
Build my maternity plan