For the last ten years all my contracts have been temporary including my current job...usually a year or 18 months...I've got friends in a similar position who want to have a baby but don't want to go down the credit card route, excessive debt etc...DH and I have just bought our home and nearly finished doing it up (our savings have been wiped out due to an unexpected problem with damp and a total cheap overhaul of a house that hasn't been touched since the 60s)..we've managed to get on an even keel for debt and just about coping...I'm in my mid 30s and we want to have a baby...I'm on a maternity contract for a woman whose on her 3rd maternity cover...AIBU to feel like when is someone going to cover my maternity?
I've been looking for permanent jobs but they are few and far between and low paid. I'm on low pay now £15,000pa...was looking for something higher paid to try and put money a side and still pay our bills, DH wages on its own don't cover all our bills and mine certainly don't I'm on £15,000 less! DH luckily has a chance of a small bonus every year but not always guaranteed (3 figures) I've also noticed that more and more men are being taken on (I have no issue with men!!)...I went for an interview at a Primary school office... all men ranging between 20s and 40s and the woman in charge was in her 50s I thought to myself unusual in a Primary school especially Admin staff!
When I mentioned this the other day to a group of friends one said at her work her boss just can't afford to keep paying out maternity leave...yes it's illegal but if they take on anymore women who go on maternity it will break them...it's a small business they've started doing a scheme for older people to get back into work but according to my friend that's not the real reason they joined the scheme and lots of small businesses are going this way! This made me think what chance do I have to become a Mum, well paid and keep a job that I go back to?
Another year=another year of being entitled to maternity leave...another year my stats go down for becoming pregnant easily. Just fed up and want DH and I to become parents. Sorry for the rambling feeling really down about the way maternity pay works i.e. at least year in a contract before your entitled but pretty much impossible if you're on temporary/zero hours contracts.