Fathers to share "maternity leave": Hurrah! Now we can BOTH feck up our careers

[morningpaper]

From 20100, New mothers will be able to transfer the second half of their year-long maternity leave to the father, the government has confirmed.

Do you think this will be taken up?

Does anyone know If its just "fathers" or partners too? ie would this include same sex couples/parents??

This would be fantastic for me and DH because we have the same job, so we wouldn't miss out on pay, however I understand that I'm in an unusual position.

It's nice that the option is there anyway, and even if most men don't take it up, the fear of losing male employees as well will make many employers rethink only hiring men.

What does this neab?

"Under the plan, if a mother returns to work, the father could take six months off with half paid at £123.06 week. "

what does 'with half paid at £123.06 mean'?

I think it's a bloody good thing to have a choice.

I'm quite depressed to read here women assuming that the male is always the highest earner.

And yes, we should have the equality to equally feck up our careers. It's about choice. And equality. And options.

I mwan - what does this mean?

What year long maternity leave? Can many people really afford to take longer than six months?

Dueling, I think the option is for fathers to take the second half of the possible year that women currently get, but only the first 9 months of that is paid with SMP, so only 3 months of what the father can take off would be eligible for pay.

so they would get no pay at all for the last 3 months?

I find that a little confusing too! Presumably some employers would pay more than SMP anyway - depending on what your terms and conditions are.

Even if the final 3 months were unpaid, this is still a leap forward in terms of choice. Being on a maternity leave, particularly if you choose to take a long one, is always going to involve some degree of financial sacrifice, I don't think the government can be blamed for that - people choose to have children after all. You need to look at this in the broader context - conditions have improved tremendously in a relatively short period of time. All the mums I knew when I had my first either returned after 3 months (or a few became a SAHM if they could afford it) - it was really rare to find women who could afford the additional 3 months unpaid leave. Rights to request Flexible working didn't exist and job shares were few and far between. The concept of a year off work would have been unthinkable. Things have moved forward massively, and I think this proposal is another step in the right direction.

Yes duelling, same as it is now. The father just gets to share the time as it is already allocated, which means that between the parents they can take 9 months paid and an extra 3 months unpaid if they want to.

It's a fantastic idea, which works on the continent. In our personal situation it would have mqade much more sense if the husband could have take ML, as I'm the main earner and my old employer only paid SMP. As long as only women can take ML, only women will be discriminated against.

As for fucking up careers, since I worked towards a professional qualification in homestudy (and achieved it) during ML, I could convince another company that I'm a dedicated worker and able work under pressure, so I landed a much better paid job in a company with lots of scope for development.

so - would they HAVE to take 6 months (the men) or could the woman take 6 and the man 3?

Wonder how this effects homosexual couples?

Ah - so is it at the employers discretion?

We'd definitely have done this - sadly it's too late for us as I am pregnant now. I can't take more than 6 months off, maximum, as I am the main earner: it would have been brilliant to have this option, especially as DH is much better with small children than I will ever be. I don't understand why people object to it - no-one's going to force men to take the time off, it just gives couples more options, which must surely be a good thing. And as someone says above, it gets away from the policy idea that childcare is a "women's issue", when it should be a parents' issue.

We would have too if it had been available.

We would take this option, did you say from 2010?

From 2011, Dominique - and that depends on Labour being re-elected (though I think the Tories have some kind of leave-sharing plan too).

well - very few will take it up. in other countries that has been the case - so will it be here..

aside from anything else, most (though by no means all) women want to have the time with their babies, and then work PT (certainly no woman at my work has returned from ML to full time hours straight away)

there is some minor concern that a minority of women may be coerced into going to work by dilettante husband who want to sit at home all day (or so they imagine life at home with dc..)

But that happens now, doesn't it? Regardless of maternity leave.

I think this is a small but important step in the right direction.

probably true..twats are twats regardless of the law.

I think it's a really good idea. And I read in an article earlier today that 26% of women with degrees now earn more than their partners so for a lot of us (isn't that a huge chunk of MN's demographic?) it would mean a chance to spend a bit more time with our young DC without being seen as workshy. And it's bound to redress the 'I can't employ women because they all bugger off to have kids' balance.

Unfortunately, I think the chance of labour being re-elected is about as likely as my regaining a washboard stomach

We'd have used it. I earned more than dh at the time I was on maternity leave.

No-one would be forcing people to take it, but it would be great for those of us in families where the woman is the main earner (and yes, there are some of us out there).