To go off sick in December?

Complete and utter bollocks. All of it.

You mentioned that there is a precedent within your team for colleagues taking extended sick leave around this time without significant repercussions. This context is crucial. If others have successfully navigated this situation, it may be reasonable for you to do the same. Reflect on the culture within your workplace; it appears that taking sick leave around the holidays is a common practice. This observation could provide some comfort as you contemplate your decision. and you know that how exactly? Just because people aren’t being told what is being done, don’t think that it isn’t.
Management know who the piss-takers are.

Please don't do this, OP.

The lack of leave over Xmas does not sound ideal, but you should have checked this before taking the job.

As a long-term strategy, try to find a different job which allows at least a little bit of extra leave over the Xmas period, if this is important to you.

Short-term, talk to your employer if you are going to struggle with childcare over this period, and ask him or her for advice and perhaps some accommodation given your status as a LP with young children.

Taking almost a month off based on a falsehood is really piss-taking behavior, sorry, and if you get found out you will be deep in the doo-doo, and rightly so.

I think you need to ask yourself, do you need the best part of a whole month of non-working to "do Christmas" with your children anyway?

I am wondering if you have had a lot of Xmases where you did not feel very present with the kids (work, lack of money, breakup, health, if you are a lone parent of two young kids and a chronic illness, I am guessing the last few years have been tough) and have built up this kind of idealized image of Christmas in your mind, believing that if only you can spend weeks on end intensively "doing Christmas," it's going to be this absolutely incredible experience.

In reality, taking three weeks off to intensively "do Christmas" sounds like the perfect way to create a lot of really over-hyped expectations for both you and the kids; the actual Xmas stuff itself will never live up to the hype, and trying to eke out three weeks of long kiddy-centered days-out on the average parent's daily budget sounds exhausting and stressful.

Ha! Tell me you have never done a low paid job without telling me!

Yes they will or patients will recieve less and worse care. Bank nurses over Christmas is a fantasy.

And btw the tax payers pay for the fraud like this. If people wonders why NHS and other services lack money this is one of the issues. Money spend on nothing.

Will co workers then have to work extra to cover it?
I think if you're not sick it's risky but also quite selfish if it involves you potentially spoiling somebody else's Christmas.
Also, in terms of having fun with your kids, would you be looking over your shoulder on days out and activities in case you were spotted and reported (I guess that does depend on what you call in sick with)

This 👆

No need to go sick, just hand in your notice and then you can have a much time off as you need without being unfair to your colleagues and your employer, and with no risk to ongoing employment either.

I wouldn't and I'm amazed how many people would. Its very selfish to your co-workers who will be left short staffed. If I had a friend who did this, it would make me think much less of them.

I work in the private sector, and I also have a life limiting illness.
We’ve just had an email round about the unacceptable levels of absence and how management are going to look at addressing it.
And the reality is that the piss takers like the OP and seemingly half the people on this thread won’t care, while people like me are afraid to take legitimate time off.
And for posters saying that OP won’t get caught, being seen out having a ball while claiming to be too ill to work is frowned on, and next time OP is sick people will just assume she’s taking the piss.

I worked closely with the police for years and know a lot of retired police now. That's not been my experience.

No, most decent employers offer sick pay for several weeks at 90%.

Surgeons take weeks off on end. Every copper I know would take 6 months off on the sick when they cant be arsed, or it's approaching retirement or are facing being pulled up at work.

Please don't try and put them on a pedestal, because they're the 2 worst job roles for it 🤣

Do it OP. They're only kids once. Your company wouldnt think twice if they ever had to let people go. We dont owe our employers much loyalty these days as they rarely show it in return.

I'd go off sick and not give a single shit.

This.

How utterly reprehensible.

Parental leave?

I once had to tell my area manager that I couldnt work for a 4 week period as my child was having surgery, she said I either needed to get childcare or resign. So I said OK I would go to HR to check the situation and oddly enough it was approved.

No childcare is an acceptable reason for PL, although obviously you wont get paid.

They have to prove it first.

Listen, if you saw what GPs sign patients off on, you wouldn't have to ask that question lol!

Depends on how the employer treats the employee!!

Prove it!

Because you can't book it
Names get put in a hat, it was the same where I worked previously
I did Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day , NYE and NYD for 7 years in a row. Then someone had the cheek to moan when I finally got the whole lot off and say because she had children she should get it
My manager said fine, you need to work 7 years in a row first

@Floralnomad I'm not amazed. Mumsnet seems to have a lot of posters who are liars and cheats and endorse piss taking behaviour by other people.

In future why don’t you book your AL over the Christmas period ? Plan ahead if it means so much to you.

I’m amazed at how many people think that this is acceptable , it is not . If you want a job where you can have weeks off at Christmas then find one and don’t take a job where you cannot .

I think some people are missing that the OP is getting Christmas off. She just wants more days off.