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

I wouldn't take her seriously. She actively says things to push the boundaries and get a reaction. She always has. I have known her since I was about 16. I am now 41. She just has a bigger audience now.

Just the sort of stuff I would expect someone who thinks that doing a few shifts in MacDonalds makes them working class. good old "burger flipping Badenoch" trying to outdo even herself with her latest attempt at headline grabbing

Oh, but she was mulling 🤣

Piss off Kemi

I think she “misspoke”, I don’t think she’d thought this through or planned to say it; it’s not even clear what she’s trying to say. She’s just inadvertently made a massive blunder. I think she’s out. My votes on Tuggenhat

The thing is that regardless of our own views, the government can't mandate that women save to cover maternity leave because that simply isn't always possible - unplanned pregnancies, low paying jobs, financial abuse, poor mental health. And then when the baby arrives, they suffer because their mother wasn't able to save thousands.

My baby wouldn’t eat any solids until 10 months, and wouldn’t take anything other than breast milk direct from my breasts. How would I have gone back to work at 6 months?

Should be 12 months full pay standard IMO for working parents.

No way I could have gone back as an EBF mum, DD breastfed frequently until she was 1 years old due to a number of food allergies.

It’s a typical dog whistling remark by a politician presumably making the case for reducing taxes or paid leave by businesses.

I suspect they want a smaller tax base and to pay for that vision, the infrastructure spending will need to be cut. The asset rich wealthy will have private hospitals, schools, gated communities etc while the rest of the country transitions toward a model where the middle class disappears and the majority are working poor on low wages and fewer leave entitlements. So basically where the US is and the opposite of the EU. They will chant “Stop the Boats” to distract people from where the problems really lie and encourage them to blame immigrants for their economic woes.

Maternity leave isn't the gift she thinks it is.

If I'd been told I had to be back at work when my daughter was 6 months old, or let my job go, I'd have let my job go and there's a good chance we'd have adjusted to life on one salary, + any Universal Credit I'd be entitled to.

That's ~£6kpa in tax, a little over £2kpa in NI contributions and almost £3k in student loan repayments every year as a minimum, even if my husband earned enough to prevent me claiming benefits.

Giving me the right to take 1 year of maternity leave, some of it paid, means more money in the treasury for the next 33 years.

All out governments seem happier to import future tax payers.

Yep.

As she has since made clear she was talking about the burden of excessive regulation and red tape on businesses and employers. She very obviously does not think statutory maternity pay is excessive .

Fairly sure Badenoch and everyone she knows has never been in a position when she's needed statutory maternity pay. So from her fucked up perspective this would be perfectly acceptable : rich people can continue to have babies without worries and poor people's babies can starve.

Thankfully her party isn't in power any more.

Infuriating she framed it as tax payers bailing out non tax payers - by definition to be paid maternity pay you are a tax payer yourself! Divisive nonsense.

But businesses can claim back statutory maternity pay from HMRC so that argument makes no sense either.

I'm not sure where you got this, but at least one of those is wrong. In Ireland you are entitled to 26 weeks of paid maternity leave, and 16 weeks unpaid. Not less than 10 as is illustrated.

@ru53 Ah but obviously the only reason that employers go to the wall is because they are bound up in maternity pay obligations, pc wokeness and poovery. It's attitudes like yours that are personally responsible for the failure of Brexit.

There's plenty of consultancy work out there, Andrew Mitchell MP, recieves about £182,600 per year for 32.5 days working for firms including investment companies Investec, SouthBridge and Kingsley Capital Partners, along with accountants Ernst & Young and consultants Montrose Associates.

I'm sure you could have fitted that in over the course of a year.

Tories appealing to their key voters?

Good luck finding a nursery willing to take a six month old baby.

I put my child down before birth for our local nursery and was offered a place the week before they turned two…

@PigletJohn yes, back to basics indeed

It’s a load of rubbish

This woman is an idiot. There are so many benefits to women, society and the workplace of a robust maternity pay scheme.

@Onceuponatimethen It really is.

Expect more of this as the Tories descend into the wilderness. They'll have policies about hyena taming before too long.

("They certainly can be the most useful pets. And cheaper to buy than labradors.")