How much time off?

[thebookworm1]

Hi,
My work has asked me to give the amount of time I’ll be asking to take off and I’ve said 6 months.
I am the main earner and this is what we can afford. I can wfh, so that helps.
I can’t seem to find any figures on what the average woman takes off in the UK. How much time are you taking off?

@thebookworm1 the amount of time people take off tends to vary depending on their maternity package that their work offer!
What is their maternity policy OP?

They shouldn't really be asking you that and should assume you're taking the full year. I took 1 year with my dd but 3 months were unpaid.

@thebookworm1

Hi, My work has asked me to give the amount of time I’ll be asking to take off and I’ve said 6 months. I am the main earner and this is what we can afford. I can wfh, so that helps. I can’t seem to find any figures on what the average woman takes off in the UK. How much time are you taking off?

Hi, I leave on maternity on 30th July 2021 then return 5th September 2022. Baby is due 28th august however I still accumulate holidays when on Mat leave so have had to use 27 days between end of May and 28th August. Last 3 months will be unpaid.

Cool thanks.
I get 3 months paid and will use a month of AL, leaving 2 months at statutory.

9 month SMP
Added two months holiday I accrued when on mat leave to the end.

I did two weeks of annual leave, 6 months paid and then two weeks annual leave and two weeks SMP.

If I did it again, I’d not have taken the two weeks at the start because DS was over a week late, so I had three lonely weeks at home just waiting.

Honestly I couldn’t have taken a year off. My baby is the light of my life, but I was finding him very difficult and needed to think about something else - going back made me a better parent and was better for my mental health

I took about 10/11 months both times, 9 months mat leave and the rest holiday either side but I worked in the NHS and it was a good maternity package and also a difficult job to do when pregnant (as in physically and mentally demanding) so I finished quite early both times.

I don't think you have to tell your employer in advance though? I know mine assumed I'd take a year and it was up to me to tell them I was coming back earlier.

8-9 months. I live in Ireland and 6-9 months is normal here. Im taking 6 months full paid leave, 7 weeks annual leave that will be left over from this year and then I might take 5 weeks parents leave but that's just €245 a week so I'm undecided. I have the option to take 3 months unpaid but I think I'll be more than ready to get back to work before then! My husband also gets 7 weeks parental leave on full pay but he'll probably take his while I'm still off so we can have family time together.

I took a full year (3months unpaid) and loved it but was very ready to get back to part time work at that point.

Yes I work in IT where salaries are quite generous but maternity packages not do much. It was 6 weeks at 90% only until this month when my employer updated it to 3 months full pay which is already amazing for me.

Does your contract allow you to WFH with a baby - most don't so be careful.

I took a year, 6 weeks 90%, 6 months 50% then statutory and then unpaid. They now offer 12 months full pay almost enough to tempt me to have another one

I planned six months and took six months but when it came to it it felt very soon to be going back. The baby was fine (with my husband on shared parental leave for a couple of months and then a lovely nanny) but I ached when I was apart from her.

12 months with both of them (one is 7 weeks old). We shared it 50/50 first time around, this time we'll be doing 75/25 as I do not want to pump at work like I did with DS1.

I took a year.
I was planning on 9 months but my DD was premature and sitting beside an incubator is not maternity leave, so I took extra.

@thebookworm1

Hi, My work has asked me to give the amount of time I’ll be asking to take off and I’ve said 6 months. I am the main earner and this is what we can afford. I can wfh, so that helps. I can’t seem to find any figures on what the average woman takes off in the UK. How much time are you taking off?

What do you mean by WFH “helps”?

You won’t be able to work and look after a baby at the same time. Your employer will expect you to have childcare in place.

I took the full 12 months with DS and will be taking 12 months with #2.

I do agree with others though. It's not clear from your OP but if you were intending to WFH and be caring for a baby at the same time then you'll almost certainly need to rethink that plan.

I didn't read it to mean op is planning to wfh with baby more that she can work right up until her due date as she's at
Home which is also my plan

I'm planning on taking a year but will go back at 9/10 months if finances are tight

@nellly I bet you're right. That makes a lot more sense 😄. I'm in a similar position and have put down my maternity start date as the day before my due date 🙀 cause I don't have to commute and would be so fed up sat around waiting for LO to make an appearance. 😄

Totally depends on your own finances and maternity package.

NHS is 8 weeks full pay, 18 weeks half pay (less SMP) and 13 weeks of SMP. Which I would say is a good package. This is what I had. Many people I know come back after 6 months. I took 13 months off I did have 2 months no pay and took it out of our savings (lock down helped as no where was open) x

I’m hoping to take the year plus holidays (4 weeks before due date and maybe about 4 weeks at the end) so go on mat leave on 1 October 2021 and return to work maybe 1 December 2022. Mat pay is 6 months at about 75% wage, then 3 months at SMP then 3 months unpaid but we have saved to cover this.

Most people I know took a year but what’s right for you depends on your personal circumstances.

Thanks all.
By “working from home helps” I meant that I can indeed work until the due date as I’m not a trampoline instructor or nurse for whom the physical aspects of the job would be too demanding.
I actually have a male colleague who attended all virtual meetings with new baby for months and nobody said a thing - he did really well and he stayed good at his job. My company is generally good about childcare but obviously I would want nursery care for most of the time.
On the day my husband is there for the afternoon for example, I might consider working with baby in the morning though.
It might be a matter of half-days at the nursery so I can focus, part-time working with both, and part catching up once my husband is home from his job. My company is part-based in the US so I can be flexible with hours to overlap with them.

Of course it’s impossible to know if baby will have any special needs or just be a Velcro baby requiring more attention. I was just interested in what people were planning for. It seems most are aiming for longer but few have jobs with my flexibility. I wouldn’t be considering 6 months only if I worked as a teacher or nurse.