Parliament debate to extend maternity leave

[ejmay90]

Not sure if this has been posted already but please see this debate to extend maternity leave for 3 months.
Please sign if you agree :)

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/306691

Signed

Could you please explain why this is necessary? Maternity leave is for bonding and caring for baby, this isn’t being prevented by lockdown?

Why would anyone sign that?

Ridiculous idea.

This is the text of the petition...

In light of the recent outbreak and lock down, those on maternity leave should be given 3 extra months paid leave, at least. This time is for bonding and social engaging with other parents and babies through baby groups which are vital for development and now everything has been cancelled.

These groups are vital for baby development, bonding and educating both babies and parents. Given that the government have closed down many areas of the community new parents and babies are confined to their homes with no social interaction which will ultimately impact on the development of children.

We are calling on Boris Johnson and the government to extend paid maternity leave by an additional 3 months, at least to allow for this development and bonding to take place.

3 months to go to baby groups paid for by your employer. The entitledness of some people is astounding.

Currently 4 months into my maternity leave and not signing this. It's utterly ridiculous!

No this time is to spend with your baby and getting used to the extra family member whilst off work. How the hell is it fair for the extra 3 months paid? You can have that anyway unpaid. The last 6 weeks of my maternity leave meant no groups, I'd settled my daughter into a day nursery but will now have to do all that again. I had to return to work in the NHS. I will never get the last moments of my maternity leave back. Just be grateful you are able to be at home with your babies.
This is not needed, the government can't afford it, the economy is already going to be on its knees.

I can sort of understand why people returning now might struggle with childcare provision/settling and need further time off but really don’t understand extension on the basis of ‘baby groups’ which are far from a necessary part of early development nor how having a further period on full pay could be justified?

Not a chance.

We are likely about to enter a period of recession because of all the (necessary) financial handouts the government jas been providing. And you want to make that situation worse by giving completely unecessary ones? Mat leave is for bonding with baby and as far as I can see, the lockdown isn't changing that whatsoever. You've got intensive time with your baby (and likely the baby's father which very few other mothers have had). Perhaps we should start a petition after this is all over so our husbands can also get similar amount of time off that the men did just now? Of course not...the situation just now is just different and we have to adapt. There are positives and negatives so you just have to roll with it. This petition is just plain bloody greedy and I hope the government laughs it out the joint.

I think OP might have missed the earlier threads about this!

Haha haha nope

I can't understand why anyone would not want extra time on their maternity leave. Who cares if it's to do with covid, they should allow mothers longer than 9 months anyway!

And if you don't think the government can afford it you'd be surprised how much they pay themselves wouldn't you. No of course you wouldn't.

Who cares if it's to do with covid, they should allow mothers longer than 9 months anyway!

Paid for by everyone else?

Yes, because the government I’d going to have shed loads of money to spend on this after it’s done.

You can look after your baby.
You can recover from the birth.

This is no one’s ideal time.

What a load of bollocks.

Maternity leave pay is barely enough to get by. I wonder if Carrie symonds could survive on that.
Maternity leave in this country needs an overhaul.

@PurpleDaisies why not? Mothers pay taxes as well you know. Do you say the same about the NHS?

@Delbelleber I was just thinking this. How many women cope on SMP as it is?

I think it's taking the piss!

Completely ridiculous... and we have bucket loads of money lying around to fund this. 🙄 Baby groups are not essential for a child's development either. While I have sympathy for people who have not had the maternity leave they hoped for, everyone has had to make sacrifices in this pandemic. I really hope this isn't taken seriously.

Whoever thought this up could have come up with better reasons for wanting 3 extra months than cancelled baby groups

Nope.

I signed the petition some time ago regarding extra maternity leave for mums of premmies, but won’t be signing this.

I am in favour of the current maternity leave provisions. I am in favour of mothers having the right to stay with their children as long as they like. I am not in favour of them expecting taxpayers to provide for them to do that.

Jeez, our mothers and grandmothers didn't even get much maternity leave (it was six weeks unpaid for my mother), and there were no baby groups and organised social engaging. I have not particularly noticed that all those born before 1975 have been massively disadvantaged by not having enough access to baby group or mother. I have noticed that an awful lot of the younger generation seem to think they are entitled to a living at someone else's expense. Maybe they spent too much time in baby groups.