Six ways to make money while on maternity leave

How to boost your income without leaving your baby’s side. Chloe Hamilton reports

Maternity leave can be a time of pure joy, glorious life-affirment, intense exhaustion and absolute vulnerability. It can also, of course, be very expensive.

Reduced pay coupled with new baby expenditure means that some parents struggle to make ends meet.

Instead of going back to work early, many seek alternative income streams while on leave to boost their income, but it can be challenging.

So we’ve compiled a selection of easy methods to help parents generate extra income. They’re not all big money-spinners; some will rustle up just enough to cover for coffee and cake on playdates. Others could help provide a little more sustenance.

1 Sell your old stuff

Increasingly, parents are using second-hand selling sites such as Vinted and Facebook Marketplace.

Sam Kennedy Christian is one such parent. “I would take batches of photos when either the baby was napping or when my partner was looking after them. Then I’d upload them [to Vinted] on my phone while I was sitting and feeding, or holding the baby for a nap,” she said. She made £150 from selling old clothes while on maternity leave. She used the money to purchase new items – from Vinted – for her children.

If you have time to spare, and more things to sell, then you could earn much more. We’ve heard from some seasoned Vinted sellers who’ve managed to make thousands from selling their stuff – and revealed some tried and tested ways to get the best prices.

2 Take online surveys

If you have time to spare and a phone to hand, you can make spending money through taking part in surveys online.

One of many options is YouGov, where you can make between 50p and £3 per survey (although you must wait until you’ve made £50 before they will pay out via bank transfer or a gift card).

With Swagbucks, you can earn between 50p and £3 for taking part in surveys, watching videos, using search engines, playing games and shopping, and it will pay out via PayPal, gift cards and prize draws from £3. Opinion Output pays between 50p and £2.50 for a survey and will pay out via PayPal, Amazon vouchers or a high street gift card from as little as £ 2.50. Perfect if you need a little extra cash for a coffee.

3 Set up your own business

You could make larger sums of money using maternity leave to set up a business. Daisy Ferns’ son was just four months old when she set up Lavender Blue Sleep Consulting, which provides help to parents whose children are having trouble sleeping.

She made just under £6,500 in eight months while on leave, fitting her work into evenings, nap times and the occasional weekend. “Setting up my website and email was totally new to me, and having to stop mid- task because my children needed me while I was trying to learn was difficult,” she said.

Her advice is to be prepared to give up your spare time, and work around your children. “If you get the right business, you can begin to make money straight away,” she explains. “An online business like mine, for example, has no big overheads like a property or stock.”

4 Try freelancing

You are legally allowed to earn income via self-employed work while receiving statutory maternity pay from an employer, but you should check if your employment contract with your workplace allows you to do so.

Sophie Baldwin, 32, works as a freelance social media manager and digital marketing consultant. “I left hospital with my newborn and had a call with a client that afternoon,” she said. “I’ve fed on calls, changed nappies on calls and tried to entertain a crying baby on calls. Each month varied, but I made anything from £500 to £2,000 depending on projects or how many clients I had.”

You might have to think laterally to come up with freelance jobs that fit in with your full-time career.

For example, teacher Hayley Gourlay, 35, made some extra money marking exam scripts for a few weeks while she was on maternity leave.

She was able to fit the work around feeds and naps, and made around £1,000 in the process. “It was handy as it came just as my maternity pay went down to £0,” she said.

5 Earn extra by sorting out finances

Arguably the easiest way to make money on maternity leave is to put any savings into a high interest savings account: it can be done at the click of a button and, with inflation now lower than rates, money can be made here.

For example, at the time of writing the difference between what you can earn with the highest and lowest-rate easy-access accounts comes to more than £450 in interest, based on a pot of £10,000. That’s a lot of nappies.

Another way to make money at the click of a few buttons is by switching bank accounts.

Emily Harwood, 35, did just this when she was on maternity leave with her first child in 2022. High street banks regularly offer up to £200 for switching, and the process is pretty simple – certainly easy enough to fit into a nap or feeding schedule or after bedtime.

“We just picked the highest amount with a bank we hadn’t been with before,” said Ms Harwood. “My husband and I both did it, and we switched our joint account, too. It was a very easy and quick application and we made about £175 each for each switch.”

6 Get paid for what you buy

Cashback sites offer another easy way to recoup some of the money you’ll inevitably spend while on leave. These sites do what they say on the tin; give you a percentage of money back on your purchases.

Simply sign up to the cashback site – TopCashback and Quidco are the most prominent – and search for whichever online retailer you want to buy from. If it’s running a deal with the site, you’ll need to click on the affiliated link before you make your purchase (otherwise it won’t be tracked). When you buy something, the cashback amount will be added to your account. You’re not going to make a fortune, but these are purchases you’re likely to be making anyway. For the real pro approach, you can also use a cashback credit card for purchases via a cashback site – both will pay you cashback separately, so you can earn even more. Just be sure to pay off your credit card in full every month, to avoid interest.