Most baby budgets start with the cost of the cot and the pram. The bigger financial shock usually arrives later and is easier to plan for: your income drops during leave, a new line appears on your budget for good, and several deadlines pass in the first month. Parents who see those three things early cope far better than parents who find them one by one.
This guide looks at the money side of having a baby in South Africa: what leave pays, how to calculate the gap between your income and your costs, and the admin tasks that carry deadlines. It is general information, so check the details with your employer, the UIF and your medical scheme for your own situation.
The plan in order:
- Find out what your employer pays during leave and what UIF adds.
- Calculate the monthly gap and how much to save before the birth.
- Check your medical cover and tell your scheme in good time.
- Do the admin: birth registration, any grant you qualify for, beneficiaries and your will.
- Rebuild your regular budget around the new ongoing costs.
What does leave pay?
Employers are not required to pay your salary during maternity leave, so whether you get any pay depends on your contract and company policy. What most mothers rely on is the UIF maternity benefit. It pays 66% of your earnings, with earnings counted up to the UIF ceiling of R17,712 a month, so the most it can pay is about R11,690 a month (66% of R17,712). It is paid for a maximum of 121 days, which is about 17 weeks, as long as you have enough credit days built up.
To qualify you must have been employed for at least 13 weeks before you apply. You can apply before or after the birth, provided you are already on maternity leave and you apply within 12 months of the birth, and you can lodge the claim at a labour centre or on the uFiling website. Your employer has to complete its part of the paperwork, so tell HR early. If your employer pays you part of your salary during leave, UIF guidance says the fund pays only the difference, so that the total does not go above your normal pay.
What changed in October 2025?
On 3 October 2025, in Van Wyk v Minister of Employment and Labour, the Constitutional Court found the parental leave rules unconstitutional. Until Parliament rewrites the laws, a single parent or the only employed parent gets four months of parental leave. Where both parents are employed, they share a pool of four months and ten days in any arrangement they choose, with the birth mother keeping priority for the weeks around the birth. The Court gave Parliament 36 months to fix the law, which is roughly October 2028.
The important money point is that the Court declined to rewrite the UIF rules in the meantime. Your employer must grant the leave, but the way UIF pays for it has not changed yet, so a second parent who takes leave may get little or nothing from the fund. Ask your employer whether it will pay for the leave and ask the UIF what the second parent can claim.
A draft Labour Law Amendment Bill was published for comment in the Government Gazette on 26 February 2026. It proposes one gender-neutral parental leave system and a UIF parental benefit of up to 17.32 weeks for a single contributor, shared between parents where both contribute, at 66% of earnings. It is a draft. It has not become law, so do not budget on it.
How big is the gap?
Work out the gap using the same method as any drop in income. Take Thandi, who earns R20,000 a month before deductions. Her normal expenses are R14,500. During leave she expects the baby to add R2,500 a month for nappies, formula or extra food, clothes and baby medicine, so her costs rise to R17,000. These are placeholder figures, so replace them with your own.
If her employer pays nothing during leave, her income is the UIF benefit of R11,690. The monthly gap is R17,000 minus R11,690, which is R5,310. Over four months that is R21,240. If she saves for nine months before the birth, she needs to put aside about R2,360 a month. If she only has eight months, it is about R2,655 a month. This is the number to plan around, and it is much easier to work out in month three than in month eight.
Two cautions. First, UIF claims take time to be approved and paid, so plan for the first weeks of leave without them. The guide to handling your money after losing your job describes a UIF claim, which has similar steps. Second, pay is only one part. If your partner's income also falls, add that to the gap.
What about medical cover?
A private hospital birth can be expensive, and medical plans differ widely in what they pay for pregnancy and delivery. Check your plan's maternity benefits well before the due date, including antenatal visits, scans and the hospital stay, and ask what you must pay yourself. Get a written quote from your doctor and hospital, and ask the scheme to confirm in writing what it will cover.
Also ask when and how to add the baby. The Medical Schemes Act generally stops a scheme from imposing waiting periods on a child born while you are a member, but you usually have to register the baby within the scheme's deadline. Bonitas, for example, sets 30 days from birth and fully underwrites a newborn who is registered late, while other schemes allow longer, so check your own rules. Several schemes accept the baby registration form first and the birth certificate later. If you are on a hospital plan, the guide to medical aid or a hospital plan explains what to look for.
Which admin tasks have deadlines?
- Birth registration. Register the birth at a Department of Home Affairs office within 30 days. Registering later counts as late registration, with extra requirements. The first unabridged birth certificate is issued free, and you will need it for the medical scheme, grants and later a passport.
- Medical scheme. Notify your scheme and add the baby within its deadline, as above.
- Child support grant. The grant is R580 per child a month from April 2026, up from R560. The means test is strict. Published figures differ, but for a single caregiver the income limit sits at only a little over R5,000 a month, so most salaried households will not qualify. Check the means test with SASSA before you rely on it.
- Beneficiaries, life cover and a will. Update your insurance and retirement fund nominations and your will, and name a guardian. A new dependant is also the usual moment to ask how much life cover you need, and the guide to life, disability and income protection cover covers that. The guide to wills and estate duty covers the basics.
What changes in the regular budget?
A baby adds a permanent line, and it grows over time into childcare, school fees and activities. Childcare is often the biggest new cost if both parents return to work, so get quotes and waiting lists early. The post on building a family budget for four shows how to split costs into fixed, per-head and yearly, and the guide to saving for school fees looks further ahead.
Keep the first year simple. Borrowed or second-hand cots, prams and clothes are common and sensible. Save the money for the costs you cannot avoid.
How can Budget Hub help?
Budget Hub's expense categories include child care, medical expenses, school fees, kids' activities and groceries, so you can see what a baby adds as it happens. Before the birth, create a savings goal for your leave gap, with a target such as R21,240 and a date, and log each contribution. The free plan includes three goals. When you return to work, update your income and set a new monthly budget figure on the Budget page, which compares it with your latest spending.
Quick answers
How much does UIF pay for maternity leave?
66% of your earnings, counted up to R17,712 a month, so a maximum of about R11,690 a month, for up to 121 days. Your employer may pay more, depending on your contract.
Do both parents get leave?
Since the Constitutional Court's October 2025 ruling, parents who are both employed share four months and ten days. A single parent or the only employed parent gets four months. UIF payment rules have not been updated to match yet.
When should I register my baby's birth and add them to my medical scheme?
Register the birth at Home Affairs within 30 days. Add the baby to your medical scheme within the scheme's deadline, which is 30 days at some schemes, to avoid waiting periods.
Sources: Department of Employment and Labour: UIF maternity benefit, UIF fact sheet (R17,712 ceiling), De Rebus: Van Wyk parental leave ruling, DML: Van Wyk and UIF, Moonstone: draft bill on parental leave and UIF, gov.za: register a birth, Moneyweb: Budget 2026 social grants. Rates, limits and thresholds change, so check the source for the current figure.
Work out the monthly gap this week, set up one automatic transfer for it, and the baby's arrival becomes a plan rather than a surprise.