New Maternity/ Paternity leave policy...

[CalaLilly]

Does anyone think they may use it?

There is no way I/ we'd be tempted. OH earns a lot more than me plus my job involves looking after babies (SCBU babies) so it seems silly to return to looking after other babies when I could be at home with my own! I'm glad they're introducing it though as I can see how helpful it'll be for some families- though I'm not sure how many will actually take advantage of it? That said, I have a friend whose a primary teacher who would have gone back to work in lieu of her GP OH having her maternity leave, had that been possible. I can also see how it would work in families where the women earns more. It very much boils down to individual circumstances and I'm intrigued to know what mumsnetters will benefit from it!

I think it's a great initiative. In practice however I don't know how useful it is going to be.

This because normally only the first few months of maternity leave are paid. During this time, the mother is more instrumental to the child (if breastfeeding) and will therefore tend to take up the leave.

Not many people can afford to take much unpaid leave. Given that (still) mostly men are the higher earners in couples, it would be very hard for them to take the extra leave.

Personally, I'm planning on taking 6 months off, most of which will be fully paid leave + accrued holidays. I don't think we can afford for either of us to take much unpaid leave (living in London!) but I do like that the option may be available for my DH as well as me.

Now this is probably really naughty, but I haven't had very much back for my taxes thus far (and touch wood will never need to) - I'm self employed, partner in a small business, so maternity pay is pretty minimal: there is some but it's at such a low rate I'm not sure I can be bothered to fill in the forms, plus it's invalidated if one does any work at all, which, working from home, is unlikely though I don't kid myself I'll be doing much... So the naughty bit is, can my employed DH still get the 'free' unpaid leave even though I was never entitled to any?? Not really expecting anyone to know; I expect the govt don't either, but any thoughts or on mat. pay and self-employment would be welcome.

I wish they'd stop doing things like this and just concentrate on encouraging businesses to improve maternity benefits for all women. Its a nice idea and everything but my DH is a professional in a relatively high-management job, no way on earth is he going to be allowed (or probably want to) to take up to 6 months and frankly I'd be amazed if his employer would pay him. It's all faddy and gimicky and just does not tackle the issue which is, I think, that firms pay peanuts in maternity leave and that is why people struggle.

As far as I understand it, the new law will mean both mothers and fathers are now entitled to take time off work and share the 9 months worth of maternity allowance - currently £124 a week. It will be really helpful to my husband and I as we're both self-employed freelancers and it will mean if I get a good job offer a few months after I give birth and he's able to look after our child he can now claim for maternity allowance too. Plus, I hope it will end the stigmatisation of women in their 30s - employers being reluctant to take them on just in case they have a baby and drain the resources of the company. As if men can legally take time off too then the gap between the sexes will be narrower than it is now. I agree with Clegg that the current law harks back to the Victorian era. Countries like Sweden and Holland are a lot more prgressive with couples sharing childcare as it should be.

I think this is being done so companies cannot discriminate against women because they cannot tell which parent will take the bulk of the leave.
I think that was why Sweden does it like that.

I think the new laws will be a step in the right direction.

This is my first child and I'm still in the early stages of pregnancy so was surprised to find out about the little that fathers are currently entitled to!

Perhaps I am naive but I was surprised to find that current laws don't allow leave to be shared between the parents if that's what suited the family's needs (e.g. in circumstances where the woman is the breadwinner).

Both myself and DH are professionals in similarly paid jobs. I think it's a great idea that he could spend some time looking after the baby at home to allow him to bond more while I went back to work. This would also be less detrimental to my career than taking a year off - surely it must be easier for businesses to manage for shorter periods of time than one long one for the mother? We both work for very large companies though so I have sympathy for small businesses but I can't see that it would be any more difficult than if the business currently employed a pregnant woman.

FeraGirl, you're not naughty! I'm not sure how it will work here but in my home country they do shared leave and yes, if the mother is self-employed and not entitled to leave, the (employed) father is still entitled to it.

I'm absolutely thrilled.

I earn more than my husband and while we couldn't afford for me to take more than the leave I get on full pay, we could swing it for him to stay home for the time on an allowance for a couple of months -- which would also stretch the time we have at home with our baby a few months longer.

He is very keen to be a hands on dad, and this will give dads more opportunity to share hands-on parenting from the get go.

Im thrilled to see this development. My husband is Canadian and this has been the 'norm' in Canada for a long time (as has a full year of parental leave).

I find it bizarre that people are making comments like 'i wish they would stop doing things like this'..I mean hello I'm a well paid and senior professional and as such have worked incredibly hard to get where I am, an suddenly, after all these years, find myself in a position where i potential wont be taken quite as seriously in the workplace as a result of changing priorities (please note, my husbands priorities have also changed). why should that be different for a man? please explain why its ok for me to take a year of maternity leave from my professional well paid job yet a man in a similar situation is somehow indespensible?

my husband and i are both in the same profession and until recently have earned very similar and held similar positions; we had reached a point of accepting it as 'the norm' that i would take a step back and no long stretch myself career wise because I am having a child. Im glad we are finally reaching a point where true equality looks to be on the horizon and our new arrival doesnt mean i throw my career out the window. I also think its incredibly important to raise my child without the burden of sexual stereotypes so having daddy at home playing an active role is ideal.

I also think its a nice idea and for some families it will work but for me personally it won't make any difference.
I also think that making maternity benefits better would of been a better idea.
My Partner gets one week paid leave. He has to take this in advance not starting from when the baby is born. This meant I spent two weeks on my own just after I gave birth with my ds. I could barely walk. Luckily my mum's workplace were more undersntanding and she had a few days to come and look after us.

That's just my opinion/situation obviously.

We'd use it, we'd use it!

I earn more than DP earns, so it would make sense for us financially. But more importantly for us, he'd love the opportunity to spend more time with the baby, and I would love this for them both. I would also love for both our families to understand that my career is just as important to me as his is to him, and I would love for our child to grow up making no assumptions about what is woman's work and what is man's work. I think the proposed changes are an excellent development.

And, as others have said, at a societal level and in the longer term, if more men took time off for parenting then there'd be less discrimination against women in the workplace.

We have every intention of using it, all being well (it's still early days.) It makes financial sense for us as well as being an opportunity for my husband to have a really good chunk of time one-to-one with our baby, which will be nice for both of them and not possible for us otherwise.