Why can't two parents have maternity leave at same time

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If they work for different companies why is the set up only one parent at a time take it.
I think would really help with discrimination in the job market as well. Men taking it at same time as women would imo dilute the situation where it’s majority women who take it for imo pretty fair reasons and jobs avoiding employing women of a certain age due to concerns around them taking it (I have actually been asked in an interview whether I have any plans for the near future as we really need someone here after the current girl went and got pregnant. Sure I didn’t take the job but I’m not alone in that experience.
I also think it would just be bloody great if you could both have it off at same time if there’s two of you.

Well of course it would be nice, but it’s a bit much too ask companies to pay you to be a second at home parent!

It wouldn't make any financial sense for DH and I to be on parental leave at the same time. Far cheaper for child care to stagger it, and better then putting child into childcare to early, which would have happened if we had 6 months off together not a year between us. Also I needed to take it first to recover from pregnancy and birth.

It isn't... DP used some of my leave and we were both off work for the first couple of months. We work for different companies.

Also I would have hated to have DH at home for my maternity leave - much nicer to have time with him at work. Our marriage would not have survived being home together. That was MY time

I think they can? See govt guidance here. (By ‘same employer’ I think they mean you can’t have changed jobs during the pregnancy, not that both parents have to work at same place...)

What would be the point?

It's a ridiculous idea. It doesn't take two people. Agree it should be shared no doubt - this eliminates the fact it falls on the woman.

I don't see why two parents need to be at home for six months, really silly

I think you can both take it at the same time?

You don’t need two people to look after one child for that amount of time, so I think that would be a bit silly really. But I think it would be fair for men and women to be offered the same leave which they could then share or organise how they wanted to e.g. dad could have 4 months off with dc and then mum, or dad could take the whole leave if that would suit the family better.

Pretty sure you can but you’d burn through the allowance twice as fast and most people these days want someone at home till 9mo. I went back at 6mo and was in the minority and ds was the youngest at the Nursery.

If you opt into shared parental leave you can both be off at the same time. Though the total is still capped at 52 weeks so you’d use up all the weeks in 6 months if you were both off constantly.

“You can use SPL to take leave in blocks separated by periods of work, or take it all in one go. You can also choose to be off work together or to stagger the leave and pay.”

You can I’m sure my dh took his paternity leave along with some parental leave and some leave he had accrued. He took 12 weeks with dc1 and 9 weeks with dc2.

You can take shared parental leave at the same time. Have been able to since April 2015. Thought people knew that...

DH and I did with baby 1. 6 months at home as a family of 3. It was lovely. He’s been a SAHD ever since so we also got 6 months at home as a family of 4 with baby 2 ( albeit obviously that time he wasn’t being paid).

Maternity leave is only for mothers.

Paternity leave is only for fathers.

Shared parental leave can be shared between parents and you can both be off together if you choose.

You’ll never get away from the fact that mothers are women, and birth the babies, therefore will always need time off for that. But the inequality could be evened up by more men taking leave.

At the moment most men don’t.

You can both take it at the same time, DH and I did. However, it would be likely that only one if you would be getting the higher rate of ‘early on’ leave pay iygwim.

A former colleague was off for a period at the same time as his wife when their baby was born, and I'd plan to do similar with my second. Not the whole 6 months though.
We'd probably do e.g. both off first 6 weeks, then me off for further 9 months alone.

And the point would be? You can share it can’t you, so potentially surely you could take six months together, but then both have to go back to work? Could people afford for both parties to be on maternity leave at the same time?

My company has equal parental leave. You both get 9 months

It's allowed as far as I know, but it doesn't make any financial sense for most families

As said above. You can. You can be on maternity leave and the dad can take Parental Leave at the same time. Any parental leave he takes is deducted from your overall maternity leave allowance though so you'd have to go back quicker than if he didn't take it though.

At my work it doesn't matter if you are the mum or dad you get 1st year parental leave. So I can be off a year, first 6 months full pay, then 3 months half pay then 3 months no pay. My wife can take her maternity as usual. I plan on taking 6 months off to be with them and not miss this special time.

Daddy2be that’s very generous of your employer and not the norm - as PP have said usually there’s some hoops to jump through about shared parental leave reducing the mother’s entitlement to leave. Great if your company has a different policy but check the small print!

Nothing hiding the the small print. It's a new policy this year so employees come back with a sense of what it is like for a women and also to give you a chance to spend that time with your new family and bond. Doesn't even matter how long you have worked there to get it. Could be a month, could be 10 years. Definitely not standard at all, still acrue holidays and bonus. I feel very lucky.

Amazing Daddy2. I wish more companies would realise that the financial cost of progressive policies like this is tiny compared to the effect it has on staff retention, loyalty and morale. Some things an increased salary from a competitor company cannot buy you and people consider this when they’re looking at their career and their work-life balance.