Finance during maternity leave

Please Help!!

I am due to go on maternity leave next week and need to sort money out so i know how long i am taking off work.

I will receive 124.00 a week smp and thats all! I have looked at benefits calculators but from direct gov im getting a higher amount than HM revenue and customs, im so confussed as the difference is huge!

I have been putting my current wage in even though i wont be taking that home. Is there any advise you can give me as at the moment it is looking like i will be £300.00 down on money i need just for everyday rent and bills!

For the first six weeks you should get 90% of your wage, then the £124 should come in on the seventh week until you end your paid leave. The 90% is based on around the average of eight weeks worth of wages from the 25th week of pregnancy.

Thank you for that, that will certainly help for the first 6 weeks. Do you know which calculator would be right ? The one that had the most benefit also asked about my rent and council tax and pension plans. The difference between the two seemed to be working tax credit, direct gov said i was entitled the hm revenue sais i was not. Both myself and my husband work full time.

You can do it yourself quite easily

As you are starting your leave next week your pay for the first 6 weeks will be calculated based on your wages in August and September.

As an example
August = £2000
September = £2000
= £4000
Which gives you an average weekly pay of £460 then you simply find 90% of that figure which is £415.

Oh, I just found this as well
http://www.nwpayroll.com/onlinetools/smpcalc.html