How long to have off work?

[Mizzi1904]

I'm worried about how much time I'll need with the baby and how much we can afford. Can I ask how long you are all planning on?
I know SMP is 6 weeks 90% then ordinary SMP after that, but £600 a month won't cover my bills and hubby doesn't earn enough by himself to me to take lots of time off.

Can't give you an answer, you need to sit down and work out your budget, how much you can save before you go on leave and what costs will go down when you're not in work. Also factor in child care costs for when you return to work as the difference might not be much with you staying home or paying for child care.

Personally I plan to take the full year and probably won't go back.

My husband and I are still trying to work this out but think maybe 7 months. I initially wanted around 9 months off, more if I could but we just can't afford it. 7 months sucks though, I feel like it's not long enough. I'm planning on saving my holidays before I go off (3 weeks annual leave) and then use another 3 weeks before I return to work. That would take me up to 8 months ish.

It's definitely going to be hard. Especially when childcare is very expensive. We will both have to go back full time but I'm hoping that I can compress my hours - so work over 4 days. We will also need to cut down on outgoings, so will likely be cancelling gym memberships, not renewing phones when the contract ends, etc. my husband is going to try and apply for higher paid jobs also as he could be a higher grade.
Both our parents are still working full time as they aren't near retirement yet sadly for us!

I work for the Local authority so have good maternity pay but even then, it's still a struggle.

It was my guest day back today after 10 months and I wasn't ready.

*first

I had 9 months off with my first and by month 7 i was ready to go back to wotk. Planning on same for 2nd.

Finances, you have to work out how much you both can save between now and when your mat leave drops to then cover the drop to SMP.

Does your work offer any kind of enhanced maternity policy? Might be worth checking with HR.

I'm taking a year; we'll probably be worse off when I go back while we're paying for nursery, even with the tax-free childcare scheme, before the free hours kick in.

I did 8 months both times, and shared leave with DH to some extent both times too. That was about right for me. We had savings to make up for the deficit in income though, and DH's leave was on full pay.

I found 6 months more than enough. To me, the DCs are more rewarding when they’re older. And the money saved by not taking a whole year, helps with then working part time for a while.

I had 7 months off in total and went back when DS was 6 month old.

I enjoy my job and was very happy to do it again! DS was also getting much more social with other people so it didn’t feel too early for me.

However I was and am still breastfeeding. This add a whole extra layer of effort to the going back to work process. I pump twice during the working day and send the bottles to nursery.

My friends that had closer to a year off didn’t have to do this as their babies had mostly finished having milk during the day.

I did six months and was very glad to go back to work 😂 My husband then took three of my months as shared parental leave.

I am about to go back to work after 9 months but don't feel ready. We have had to take a significant hit on our finances to stay at home this long and have funded it by saving up ahead of maternity leave and making lifestyle changes eg only one car to run, one caravan type holiday per year etc.

My eldest is 25, I returned to work when she was 9 weeks old.

Next is 19, returned when she was 4 months old

Next is 18, returned when she was 6 months old, same with the youngest.

As you can see policies were different then!!!

TBH in many ways is easier leaving them when they are younger, separation anxiety hasn't kicked in, you haven't got a massive gap in your work, you just kind of crack on and do it.

I would rather return earlier and work fewer days than return later to full time.

I saved up all my annual leave during pregnancy so my mat leave didn't start until the day my little one arrived!

Then I will be taking 9months, my husband is taking 8 weeks (in 2 separate chunks) as shared parental leave, and I will work a few keeping in touch days towards the end of my leave in preparation for returning to work.