How much mat leave did you take

[Babydust00]

Not yet TTC but planning ahead thinking of finances and the likes

We aren’t huge earners, household combined income is just under 4k a month

I was wondering how much maternity leave people usually take? I’ve seen to take the maximum time possible. I know I have some time to decide yet but obviously it’s most people’s ideal to take the whole year. I can’t see how we could afford the 3 months unpaid- on paper we could, but it would feel like a huge drop. On the other hand maybe keeping in touch days and universal credit might balance it all out.

I took 12 months then 1 month of accrued holidays so I was off for 13 months.

It depends on your work policy. Mine was very generous 6 months full pay 3 months stat then 3 months unpaid.

For both of mine I had 9.5 months mat leave then swapped with my DH for shared parental leave as I'm the higher earner. I used accrued holiday to be off a total of 11 months with both and my work did KIT days so I used these plus tax return which covered the reduced pay. We also saved into a pot so my DH could take the last 3 months. This also covered the first few months of nursery fees.

My advice would be save as much as you can in advance/whilst you have a wage coming in and also check out nursery/childcare costs and start budgeting for this way in advance. Buy things from vinted/nct sales as baby doesn't need everything brand new other then mattress and car seat.

Instead of having 3 months unpaid, set aside money from your paid maternity leave. If your paid maternity is 9 months, add up what the total would be then -

total ➗ 12 = your monthly amount for the whole of mat leave

you will just need to put aside from your paid months.

KIT days to help too and take your accrued holiday at the end of mat leave.

We are in a similar situation currently TTC, I plan to take the full year. We are planning to save as much as possible while I am pregnant and then DH will take extra shifts at work while I'm pregnant/ on mat leave.

Maybe you could take 9 months and then the tenth as holiday. I’m taking 11 months with current DD’s mat leave, and I do feel it is long enough. I would potentially look to go back sooner with next DC. Best of luck to you on your baby making journey ✨

I took 9 months, it made more sense financially for us as my OH could take SPL for the remaining 12 weeks at full pay from his company whereas my pay would've gone to zero those last three months if I wanted a year. Plus it helped my transition back to work knowing he was at home full time with LO.

Four and five months respectively. More than enough. Couldn't wait to get back. A year would have finished me off.

Really?!

A lot of places let you take the full amount then cut it sort and come back if you give enough notice. This is very useful as you don't know what will happen

I took a year and will be doing the same again. Last pregnancy so want to make the most of it

It's different now but I took

1996 - 12 weeks. Was working until my daughter was actually born (although not seeing clients, just back office work)
1998 - 14 weeks. Worked until due date but son was 2 weeks late.

So, two lots of 3 months. It was hard going back but I don't think longer makes it any easier. Enjoy what you can that's paid for!

What would your childcare situation be OP? Do you have family around to help or will you be paying for childcare?

I took a year off. 6 months full pay, 3 months statutory, 3 months unpaid. We managed because my DH took on some of the bills, and tbh because it was lockdown so I had saved money. But even by the end I was using credit card to buy food.

I could only do 1 kit day as I had no one to look after my son.

If you went back to work at 9 months, but started paying a lot of money for childcare anyway, might it still be worth seeing if you could save some money and take those extra 3 months off?

DH works shifts. I do a 9-5.
With a flexible working request on both sides (possibly condensing or dropping my hours slightly) and family help I am hoping we will only need one, possibly two days of paid childcare. I know it’s not a given too but 9 months funded hours are coming in from September 2025. If successful straight away when we TTC we’d have a 12-15 month old at that point, so I’m hoping for what we need (one or two days a week) that that covers most of the cost.

Jeez it's just bananas the disparity between mat leave pay.
I am on stat only - if I had six months full pay the experience would have been so different - it really makes me angry how some companies pay and some don't bother their asses.
FWIW I got made redundant during Covid so I didn't really have a choice in being picky on my new job/company.
To answer your original question - I'm going to take nine months and then my leave - I might stretch it out if I can with one unpaid month. I've managed by not doing very much at all really and pooling accounts with my husband so we share his wage.

Thank you. Makes sense! It is crazy how it differs

12 months, only 9 were paid.

my OMP would be

10 weeks at 90%
20 weeks at half pay + stat maternity (which makes it not far off my full wage)
9 weeks stat maternity
13 weeks unpaid

would anyone say that’s good, bad or somewhere in between?

4.5 months, then back FT

I took 12 months maternity and was off for 14 months total using annual leave (2 weeks leave and 2 weeks mat leave prior to birth and 6 weeks leave after mat leave ended).

I was absolutely not ready to go back. We used £20k of savings to get through the unpaid part.

I got:

6 weeks full pay
12 weeks half plus stat
21 stat
rest unpaid until annual leave kicked in

I had a year. I needed a year. This was my only child though. People who want more than one often go back earlier to start the clock again to become eligible for enhanced mat pay

8 months, 6 months of that full pay, and 2 months SMP.

My drop in salary was too much for us to want to lose so went back at 8 konths but had planned 9 months. Went on a lovely family holiday instead with the salary i had by going back a bit early.

I woulf never have done a whole year anyway, by 8 months i was ready to get back to 'real life' for me

I reckon it's good! My friend who gets company mat pay asks to have it spread evenly across the year and they agree so that could be useful. I'm really hoping my place will put OMP in place before I TTC for no2 otherwise I'll have to consider a new company but that takes time too....

Will be 9 months to a year for me when the time hopefully comes.

I get 6 months full pay and the shortfall for the rest will be made up from our savings. DH will of course cover all bills as our money is joint, I’m quite shocked at a PP saying her DH took on some of the bills!

6 months then my husband did 3. I couldn't wait to get back to work, babies are boring to me. If I could take a year off now to be with my three year old instaed I would have rathered that!

I only had SMP with both.
DC1 8months, hey needed me back early. I was ready to go to work I found Mat leave really boring. I did take the baby to work with me as requested by the boss.

DC2 I had 10 months (9m leave and 4wks hols) and went back PT after working FT upto 38wks.