Maternity pay has gone too far

[EasterIssland]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c781m9v4255o

apologies if there is another thread about it.
havent seen one.

im lucky enough to have a good salary that would allow me saving beforehand . Statutory maternity pay would mean around 20-30% of my salary. Is this too far? It’s one of the many reasons why we decided to only have one. I felt really vulnerable when I was on maternity leave and didn’t feel I kept having spare cash every month. I do understand what she means tho , the sooner we’re back the less we get from the government and more taxes we pay. Coming from a woman hurts even more not being recognised the sacrifices we do whilst we are on maternity leave

The regulation and “red tape” she’s referring to is simply the existent of maternity leave as a statutory right to any pregnant woman who has been employed during the qualifying period though.
I mean that’s really the only regulation involved in SML so if she’s not hoping to push for a reduction or remove of statutory entitlement which excessive maternity regulations do you reckon go too far for her?

This is partly what Brexit was about - isn't maternity leave red tape? One person's red tape is another person's important protection.

I wish this lot would be open about being libertarian. They don't believe in the state. They think people who struggle because they can't earn enough are just hapless and should be left that way as a kind of social Darwinism. If you're rich and successful, you shouldn't have to worry about those who aren't because if they wanted it enough they'd have been successful too.

She went to nursery at 7 months so she’d had a month of weaning. She just didn’t take a bottle. As is common at that age she simply made up for it either end of the day. It wasn’t an ideal situation but she’s done well.

She’s still nursing as a toddler with no sign of giving up.

She wasn’t talking about Maternity pay though. The interviewer threw that in mid-sentence then media misrepresented her finishing the sentence as a response to her interruption. She was talking about reducing business regulations across the board.

Ok, she could have said she didn't mean maternity leave. But she didn't, she then discussed why maternity leave was exactly the sort of "over-regulation" she had in mind.

A reduction in length and access to stutatary maternity leave is the same as a reduction in maternity pay though. Less people being entitled to leave for a shorter amount of time results in less pay.

Also being against current levels of statutory holiday, statutory sick pay, dependent leave, redundancy pay etc isn’t any better or less controversial.

Really? Can you link to the video that you have watched because it must be completely different to the one that I have seen that has been well publicised.

She was mis-represented, shockingly so by the BBC who initially had a headline stating she said maternity pay was excessive, rather than business regulation which is what she was referring to. But I think she hasn’t clarified her beliefs around maternity pay well and has fallen into a trap.

Is she? Can you link?

Business regulation isn’t just about benefits for workers, very little of it is that. It is about tax, licenses, business rates, subsidies, corporate reporting, corporate structures, share ownership, directors responsibilities, export, import, logistics, VAT, sale and purchase…

Yes, I agree with this.

Her points are regressive and incompatible with a tenets of a modern economy.

Can you please link to the video clip that supports your opinion @LongtailedTitmouse.

So why did she mention maternity leave rather than any of those things, and then add for good measure ' women need to take more responsibility' ( not the men who got them pregnant and would presumably have to support the mothers of their children on one income) and ' once upon a time there was no maternity leave and women had more babies'? Or was that completely made up? In any case, it doesn't matter what we think does it? She is ' telling it like it is' to the Tory membership. It's up to them if they think she is the right person for the job. She clearly thinks they think these things. Maybe she is correct?

Every time the Tory government promised to free us from regulations and “red tape”, we ended up with disaster, from sewage in the rivers to the appalling tragedy of Grenfell. And all they have to offer is more of the same?

The sewage in the rivers is due to the flawed design of Britain's drains which date from Victorian times and the cladding disaster straddles both Tory and Labour governments

Not true. We don’t have sewage in the water here in Scotland. We also don’t have privatised water companies who are allowed to do whatever they want.

The water companies in England and Wales are forever being fined over their sewage-releasing ways. Why do you think that is, if the drains are the cause?

Having lived a lot of my life in a Nordic country, this is one of the things I struggle with so much to understand about the UK. The general attitude to parents seems very backwards and even cruel/punitive, also in terms of paternity leave and early years childcare costs. It's a rich country! We/you will need the next generation to keep the economy going and pay our pensions! It boggles my mind that this is such a common attitude of our politicians and unfortunately a large chunk of the public.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2023/sep/12/unacceptable-how-raw-sewage-has-affected-rivers-in-england-and-wales-in-maps?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Yes but again that's a good four weeks after weaning.

Six months of maternity leave typically means a baby that's 5-5.5 months, which is hugely different to seven months. Was your bottle refusing baby ready to be left all day long five days a week at 5 months? Because mine sure as hell weren't.

9 months of leave allows babies to be established on solids and for mothers to stop working a little earlier. I worked to 38 weeks happily - in my desk job. The women at my DC's nursery (who obviously are on feck all pay) don't make it anywhere near that because they have physical jobs that are hard to do in their third trimester. Six months after they start leave they tend to have 4 month olds babies at best.

I agree, I don't live or never have lived in a Nordic country but I have Scandinavian relatives and the attitudes towards being a parent are so progressive compared to this country, investing in your future.

The Tories have just lost touch with reality and they think this is the way forward, really??

Sewage is discharged into Scottish rivers regularly.

The water companies are being fined for mismanagement but it has always been the case that in times of exceptional rainfall sewage is released into the rivers and sea.

In fact the cladding disaster can be traced back to the Thatcher years so it was clearly a deeply embedded problem. However, it was undeniably David Cameron who said his government would “kill health and safety culture” and who introduced a one in one out system when it came to new H&S regulations. It was Boris Johnson as London mayor who closed fire stations and got rid of fire engines prior to the tragedy. It was Conservative run Kensington and Chelsea council that allowed the base of Grenfell to be built up, preventing easy access to firefighters.

Yes exactly this.

She said: "Maternity pay varies, depending on who you work for - but statutory maternity pay is a function of tax, tax comes from people who are working."

Note she didn't say:

Winter fuel allowance is a function of tax, tax comes from people who are working.

@ChallahPlaiter well happily we now have a Labour government who will no doubt sort everything out.

@BarbaraHoward

I’m not entirely sure why we’re arguing as I originally made the point that nursery doesn’t have to mean the end of the breastfeeding relationship and made it clear I went back at 7 months. You made the point that not all babies take a bottle. I said mine didn’t, and bottle refusal didn’t mean the end of breastfeeding for us.

You’ve now turned this into a going back before 6 months issue which isn’t my situation, so I'm not sure what your point is now. I’m sorry for anyone who does have to go back before six months.