Source: Yasmin Rufo, Business reporter, BBC News, “I asked my husband to pay into my pension when we had a child — here’s why”, published 11 September 2026. The tax mechanics below are taken from GOV.UK’s guidance on pension tax relief and employee rights when on leave, and Statutory Maternity Pay rates from GOV.UK. Household spending is from the ONS Family Spending bulletin, released 11 June 2026.
Our view
While Molly Haylett cut back at work to look after their first child, her husband Taylor paid into her pension. She asked him to, and says couples should discuss it before the baby arrives. Research cited alongside the story, from Octopus Money, found more than a third of parents reduced or paused pension contributions during parental leave, and 63% did not know their partner could contribute on their behalf. The rule that allows it is a long-standing HMRC rule.
What happens to pension contributions when pay drops
Most workplace pension contributions are calculated as a percentage of what you’re paid in that pay period, so when your pay falls, your own contribution falls with it. Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is paid for up to 39 weeks: 90% of average weekly earnings for the first six weeks, then £194.32 a week, or 90% of average earnings if that’s lower, for the next 33 weeks — the current rate, verified against GOV.UK today. Shared Parental Pay works the same way. After that, GOV.UK is direct about what happens next: “Pension contributions usually stop if a period of leave is unpaid, unless your contract says otherwise”. Once statutory pay runs out, contributions can stop completely, depending on your contract.
Illustrative figures only, built on the SMP rates above and a standard 5% employee contribution. Average weekly earnings on £30,000 a year are £576.92. For the first six weeks of leave, SMP at 90% is £519.23 a week — close enough to normal pay that a 5% pension contribution barely moves.
From week seven, SMP drops to the £194.32 flat rate — a 66% cut in weekly pay. A 5% contribution on that is £9.72 a week, against £28.85 a week on full pay: a shortfall of £19.13 a week. Over the remaining 33 weeks of statutory pay, that’s £631.29 less in contributions, before any unpaid leave.
Paying into someone else’s pension
Anyone can make what GOV.UK calls a third-party pension contribution into someone else’s registered pension — a partner, but it doesn’t have to be. For someone with no earnings in a tax year, up to £2,880 can be paid in, and because it goes into a relief-at-source scheme, the pension provider claims 20% basic-rate tax relief from HMRC and adds it — taking the pot up to £3,600 — regardless of whether the person the pension belongs to has paid a penny of tax that year. The £720 of tax relief is not means-tested and is added by the provider. It is the same mechanism that adds relief to basic-rate taxpayers’ own contributions.
Illustrative figures. £2,880 across a year is £55.38 a week. Against the ONS’s latest measured average UK household spend of £676.60 a week (financial year ending 2025), that’s 8.2% of everything an average household spends.
£2,880 is more than the £631.29 shortfall worked out above. Tax relief of 20% applies to any amount paid in up to the limit.
What Katie Guild says to ask before the leave starts
Katie Guild, co-founder of the financial community Nugget Savings, told the BBC that the pension gap typically opens during maternity leave because contributions fall as pay falls, and can stop altogether during unpaid leave. Her advice is to have the conversation before the baby arrives. She recommends couples work through a short set of questions together: whether the partner who keeps working could top up the other’s pension, what support is available through funded childcare hours and Tax-Free Childcare, and how the household will handle money as a joint position rather than a strict 50/50 split that stops making sense the moment one income drops. Molly Haylett makes the same point from the other side: she says she recently told a friend, hesitant to even raise it with her partner, that “you’ve got to just ask him”.
Three things to do this week
- Work out the weekly numbers. Use GOV.UK’s maternity and paternity calculator to see exactly what pay looks like week by week, including the drop after week six.
- Ask payroll, in writing, what happens to pension contributions once pay drops and once it stops. GOV.UK says contributions usually stop during unpaid leave unless the contract says otherwise, and contracts vary.
- If contributions will shrink or stop, discuss whether a third-party contribution suits you. It can go into a personal pension in the other partner’s name, or the same workplace scheme if it accepts third-party payments. A regulated adviser can help with the decision.
What is still uncertain
The BBC piece is a personal account, not a data release. It does not state what Molly and Taylor earned during her leave, how much Taylor contributed on her behalf, or which pension provider was involved. GOV.UK confirms the £2,880/£3,600 rule is current and not means-tested, and that the underlying research — a third of parents cutting contributions, 63% not knowing the fix exists — comes from Octopus Money as reported by the BBC.
Our pension reality check covers the employer match and an annual pension check, and understand your payslip shows where contributions appear. For talking about money as a couple, money and relationships is the place to start. If leave has made money tight, free, independent help is available today from MoneyHelper, StepChange and National Debtline.