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 would say this is really good.

I am in a professional job role (teacher) and I got:
4 weeks full pay
2 weeks 90% (possibly stat as well, can’t remember)
12 weeks half pay + stat mat
any time more than this was just stat maternity pay.

So child 1 I was off for 16 weeks and child 2 15 weeks. I simply couldn’t afford to be off longer than this.
I couldn’t tag on any holiday days as our holidays are set, and even if you miss your holiday time as you are off on maternity, you don’t get it back.

I think ultimately, you can’t know what to do until you are in the position. Unexpected bills could arise, you may be desperate to go back to work for some adult interaction, or you may want to extend your time as long as possible.

Working out your finances now is a sensible idea to give you something to help you plan with.

Good luck

14 years 🤣🤣🤣

My company have a really good maternity package and we still receive annual bonus while on maternity.

I saved some holiday prior to maternity so had 1 month holiday before starting and then 6 months at full pay, 3 months at statutory. My bonus then subsided the 3 months at unpaid and then I tagged my holiday entitlement at the end.

I ended up having about 15 months off (12 months maternity and 3 months holiday at either end).

I took the 9 months with ds, but was furloughed straight out of maternity, so ended up being home with him 17 momths, so until he was almost a year and a half. On one had I was very lucky to have that time, on the other, it was a very unsure time, I ended up being made redundant and being out of work for a further month (luckily got a temp role quite quickly)

This time, I'm debating taking either 7 or 9 months. Dh and I need to sit down and go through the financial implications of either decision.

I was off work from Aug to October the following year. The first bit was when I went into hospital as an emergency with pre eclampsia. After DC born at end August the leave began. I took the accrued leave and that took me to early October. I would not advise taking the accrued leave to extend as I did cos any leave comes in handy once they start catching nursery bugs

5.5 months, I didn’t want to but didn’t have a choice, the worst part the snotty judgemental comments from people telling me I would struggle to bond.

Similar monthly income to you, I took 6 months fully paid, 6 weeks parents leave at 250 per week paid by the gov, and about 10 weeks unpaid leave. I forward paid rent and loan repayments so we could stop them during unpaid leave. All other bills and household costs were covered with my partners wages, we actually managed quite well. I'd start saving now for comfort.

I'm on my 4th maternity leave (Teacher). I'm taking 14 months this time. With the first 3 I took the 9 months paid (13 weeks full pay then the remaining 6 months SMP only) I then added on my 8 weeks AL so was actually off 11 months.

This time I am able to take the full year with the last 3 months unpaid then add on my 8 weeks AL at normal pay. It will be tight but I intend to do the following:

Use my tax rebate (had £300 back already)
Do 2 KIT days in each of the unpaid months.
I've managed to save £800 too so all in all I should have £500 or so for each unpaid month. Plus I get child benefit for 4 children which helps. I also only pay half of my after school care while on leave so that's a saving of £100 per month and I save on fuel too. It's good to plan ahead and see what works for you. Good luck 😄

I took the full 12 months, plus 5 weeks holiday before my official maternity started. But I was also off sick for 6 weeks before that. (Tough pregnancy)
I am very lucky that I was paid full sick pay and full pay for 6 months. Baby was a surprise so we hadn’t saved for the 3 months with no pay or for the 3 months of statutory pay. We have taken a loan to cover the bills etc. For us it’s worked as I’d rather have that time at home so it is worth it. Ideally we would have saved enough to cover but we were TTC so had nothing planned.

A lot of these things depend on your things you can’t plan for so plan for the things you can. We’re lucky enough that I was able to take full year off with my first and able to plan our wedding during that last few months. I used my accrued leave as holiday days and worked 4 days a week while earning full time.

Im on mat leave now with my second, I had planned to go back after 9 months but he’s nearly 5 months off and we’ve had health issue after health issue with medical appointments at least 3 times a week. Its
looking like I’ll need to take the full year off again. If you’re able to start saving now, all throughout your pregnancy and even when you’re on full pay to make up for when you’re not earning. Easy to say I know but don’t bank on going back at a certain time because you might not be able to

On nearly 4k a month, even if you drop to one wage it's unlikely you will get any UC

I took 6mths off with both kids, I got 3mths full pay n 3mths half pay n star pay, I couldn't afford to go on stat only n then no pay

I only get SMP so the standard 9 months plus taking a month using all my accrued annual leave so just over 10 months in total. However my workplace is abysmal, toxic awful environment, no pay reviews, bully managers. Myself and DP agreed that if we cope on Mat pay we can cope me getting another job PT so that’s the plan, I’m going to resign in a couple of weeks and I can’t wait.

I worked up to one week before each birth and then went back when baby was 8 weeks old , though with the first I got called in for a couple of days after 6 weeks as they were short staffed ( work provided nanny cover). This was quite normal years ago and I was very bored at home so really pleased to go back.

I had 16 ish months off. Got made to go off at 28 weeks due to covid with full pay. Until 36 weeks then 6 weeks at 90% then to smp for 7.5 month then nada for 3. Then used my 5 weeks a/l. Loved every minute of it 😀