10 vs 12 month maternity leave

[Matimama]

I’d love the full year. Everyone I know who has had a baby recently has been off until their first birthday. We could do stretch ourselves to do it but we would be really, really skint those last two months. We’d be able to pay the bills but would have nothing for anything else.

As it is. SMP is going to make things tight for us. I plan on being off until 9 months, doing KIT days in the last couple of months and then taking the few weeks of annual leave accrued by which point she’ll be 10 months old.

I’m really torn on what to do and whether we should just plan for the year and ‘make it work’. On the one hand, you don’t get the time back. On the other hand, I don’t think I’ll ever feel ‘ready’ to leave her and will have to at some point whether it’s then or a couple of months later. Not sure if the financial worry would outweigh being off for those extra two months. We have a childminder we trust who will be doing 3 days a week, my parents (or DH depending on rota) 1 day and me the other.

You will be able to do more with her and have fun days out with more money

I wouldn’t plan to just make it work. With the cost of everything at the minute I’d prefer not to dip into savings.

However, I was definitely ready to go back after 9 months. I found maternity leave really boring and once you’re on SMP you’re limited in what you can do. Never mind on zero pay. There’s only so many times a week you can go for a walk to the see the ducks and go to the library.

This is my thinking. It’s a question of going back in either September or November next year. If November, that’ll be very close to Christmas so might not have much ££ to do nice seasonal/Christmas activities which defeats the point of being off!

No brainer. Money worries just make early parenthood even harder. For 2 months it isn’t worth it.

I'd take as long as possible. If you're getting mat pay many companies can spread it evenly over the time rather than decreasing increments. You'll get some pay from your kit days before annual leave too which will help.
You'll never get that time again.
Take it unless you will be really struggling/impossibly skint.

Have you looked at shared parental leave? It's a lot more flexible than most people realise, and depending on your DP's work policies they might be able to take time off on full pay.

Otherwise yes, I agree 10 months is better than 12 months and being skint.

Have you looked at whether you will eligible for some Universal Credit to top up your income while you're on maternity leave?

Can you not just wait and see once baby is here? That’s what I’m doing. Im planning for taking about 10.5-11 months total with 9 months Mat leave plus KIT days and annual leave, but I’m also very open to seeing how I feel once baby arrives. My letter from work says I’m entitled to 12 months Mat leave and I just have to tell them 8 weeks before I want to go back. Also we’ll see how we are financially closer to the time.

Whenever you go back it feels too early.

Also you accrue leave in Mat leave so you will have 20+days holiday to use when you go back. Some people tack it on to the end of mat leave so you get money before going back, others keep it for the 273848483 bugs from nursery. I used mine to go back very gradually.

I went back at nine months, it was fine. Babies are less prone to separation anxiety at that age too so they tend to settle better at childcare.

It's definitely not worth sacrificing financial comfort for.

Also came to suggest this. A lot of families are eligible for UC whilst on maternity leave that wouldn't ordinarily be entitled.

I had 10 months off with one and more like 12/13 with the 2nd - honestly don’t recall any difference, also there’s no difference between a 10 month old and 12 month old in what you can do with them - they probably won’t be able to walk and while you can do days out/Christmas activities with a 1 year old it is really is just for the parents at that age, baby won’t know the difference!

I’d leave it for now and see how you feel - you may have an unexpected expense and have no choice or it may end up being more important to you to stay off, or you may be desperate to return!