Shocked at government proposul to cut maternity leave to 4 months!

[AvocdoMuncher]

I didn't vote for this government but then sgain who did? They have now reached what I consider to be a new low.

They are reducing Maternity Leave to just 18 weeks. Since best practice is supposed to be to breastfeed for 6 months (from what I read) mothers won't have the choice to do this.

Hopefully my sprog will arrive long before this heinous legislation is passed.

I hate this government. grumble grumble

Have a look at the queen's speech if you don't believe me.

Msfickle are you self-employed? I thought most jobs gave close to 3 months of paid leave now. I now people can do it but 3-4 weeks after birth is nothing really - if you need a section I would think it's impossible.
One thing the article linked to raised was a concern that women would feel pressure to only take the first part of the leave - ie that they'd have to go back to the employer and ask to take further parental leave, whereas at the moment they are supposed to assume you'll take the year unless you say otherwise.

I run my own business and pay myself a basic salary then dividends on top of that for whatever profit the business makes. Stat pay on basic salary doesn't pay my bills. If I don't work the business doesn't make money.

I honestly don't believe that women would feel any pressure to return to work just because they change this rule. I think its just another classic example of women defending their own position (when the ruling won't actually change anything for them) whilst denying others opportunities that could help them.

I honestly don't have any choice but to return to work early unless I want to get into debt, which I don't.

I think it's time people woke up to the fact that its not always the man who earns more!

i think what MdFickle means is that as the main earner she really needs to return to work as soon as the 90% weeks end and the lower paid weeks start. Or that's how I would see it.

also it depends which country you're in. with my first i had i think it was either 6 or 9 weeks which were 90% of my normal pay and then after that it dropped to £117 per week for about 30 weeks. So whilst it's paid for in fact longer than 3 months the money is quite a drop if you're the main earner.

I do like the idea of the father having a bit more paid time off or the idea that you can share the leave but surely they sure make it so the woman can return to work after she's prehaps gotten an all clear from her doctor so that if dad wants to take over at 8 weeks or something he can. I mean i assume the whole point of it was to allow women back to work earlier and make maternity leave more equal with regards to men. So surely having to wait 4 months to swap over isn't exactly equal.

Although to be honest it wouldn't really affect me because after two weeks off my partner would be stir crazy to get back to work. He doesn't do well staying at home and being domestic!

...and just another point. This can actually be helpful to women who want to return to work to progress their careers. Not everyone wants to take 3,6,9 or 12 months off as in some cases this can be quite detrimental to work opportunities. It allows them to hand over care to the father so that they can get back to work if that is what they choose. But again... why 18 weeks? Why not let the parents decide?!

Linked to breastfeeding? Or the physical demands pregnancy itself has taken on women, not men? Not sure.

In my case I said the father would not want the 3 months he can have at the moment because we could only afford to take the paid part of maternity leave. This would mean daddy taking over at 6 months when you are weaning. As I breastfed lo and will be doing the same with this one 6 months would be the worst possible time to take over as feeding patterns change and would not want to pump at this time etc. Would be spending half my work time pumping I suspect! 9 months was the best time for me to go back anyway as weaning was more established and only had to pump once a day etc. I do think this bill is good but could discourage breast feeding which already has such a low uptake! My midwifes eyes nearly popped out of her head when I told her I bf my 1st for 13 months! That's how rare it is!

I'm thinking that doing a share might work for us well as I earn quite a bit more than my husband.
I wonder how well it will be accepted in reality when men start taking months off, I am pretty sure it will be affect their career prospects as motherhood often does for female worker.. even though legally that is not supposed to happen.
The thing that puts me off is that i quite fancy more than 5/6 months off plus it will be may or june when i would return to work if I go back early and it seems a shame to not have the summer off!! hehe.

Not everyone breast feeds but lots of people (namedly other women who do breast feed) seem to have an issue dealing with that. Not quite sure why. Again, other people's choices don't affect you or your rights. I find it very confusing to be honest. The bill will not in any way affect mother's current rights. It will just open up more avenues for others whose situations might be different.

I only got 15 weeks when I had DD1 (as did all those around me). We managed just fine because we had excellent childcare and DD1 genuinely did not suffer for it. It would have been harder for me to return to work 15 weeks after DD2 was born, with a tiny baby AND a toddler to take care of.

Sharing parental leave would seem to me to be a sensible option. I see it working well here in Sweden though in practise not all fathers take time off. Each parent gets 180 days (I think, off the top of my head) and can transfer up to 120 to the other partner. So there are 60 days that are lost if eg. the father never takes his parental leave. Here I know of two couples at least who are combining their leave and both working part time and taking care of the kids part time. Would seem to be a good system. Plus there is no stigma from employers at fathers taking parental leave.

As others have said you have misunderstood. It is the sharing of leave that has been updated, if you do not want to share then you do not loose any of 'your' leave. IMO it is a good idea and gives you more freedom to decide how you both want to take the leave . Whether the main earner wants to take it is a completely different issue.

How will they make sure that it is a genuine agreement between parents to share the leave - could there be a situation where a woman is forced to go back to work before she wants to by her partner or ex partner?