Moms face ‘long-lasting’ discount in earnings after having kids

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Your help makes all of the distinction. Learn extra Moms face a "substantial and long-lasting" discount in earnings after having kids, new analysis has revealed.

A examine by the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics (ONS) discovered that 5 years after the delivery of a primary baby, month-to-month earnings have been, on common, 42 per cent decrease – a lack of £1,051 per thirty days – in contrast with revenue one yr prior.

The deficit endured throughout the examine interval (2014-2022 in England).

Cumulatively, the ONS discovered a complete earnings loss over 5 years averaged £65,618 after a primary baby, with an extra £26,317 following a second, and £32,456 after a 3rd.

A part of this discount was attributed to a lower in employment.

Essentially the most important earnings drop occurred after the primary delivery, adopted by sustained reductions for 5 years after every subsequent baby.

<img src="https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/08/01/13/07/iStock-2214072473.jpeg" srcset="https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/08/01/13/07/iStock-2214072473.jpeg?quality=75&width=320&trim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0&auto=webp 320w, https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/08/01/13/07/iStock-2214072473.jpeg?quality=75&width=640&trim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0&auto=webp 640w" loading="lazy" alt="Part of the reduction was attributed to a decrease in employment" class="sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE"/> A part of the discount was attributed to a lower in employment (Getty/iStock) Alice Martin, head of analysis at suppose tank the Work Basis at Lancaster College, commented: “In the present day’s figures current the stark and unfair actuality for working moms within the UK.

“Authorities is aiming to ‘make work pay’, however girls who change into moms face persistent and important disadvantages in pay and development.

“They're pressured to commerce job safety and alternatives to handle early motherhood and ongoing childcare.”

Rachel Grocott, of marketing campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed, mentioned: “This new knowledge confirms what moms have identified for many years: the second you have got kids, your pay nosedives.

“That is the worth that mums are paying – 42 per cent of their wage – for 5 years after having their first baby. It's fully abhorrent, and the extra kids you have got, the deeper the drop.

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“It’s not a mild decline — it’s a monetary freefall leading to monetary lack of over £100,000 for a mom of three kids.

“If males skilled this type of penalty for changing into mother and father, we’d have fastened it years in the past. As an alternative, girls are punished for caring, sidelined at work, and anticipated to simply take up the price.

“Is it any surprise that girls are second-guessing having children at present? The playing cards are stacked so closely in opposition to them that with the ability to afford children is changing into a luxurious.

“We'd like pressing reform – childcare that doesn’t bankrupt you, parental depart that is sensible, and workplaces that cease treating motherhood like a legal responsibility and as an alternative flex their roles to assist moms to navigate the notorious juggle and begin to sort out the motherhood penalty as soon as and for all.”