extending full maternity pay to 20weeks?

[CherryPie3]

maybe anyway

what you reckon? will it happen?

i thought unlikely to be in time for us (ie already pregnant?) TBH many companies offer similar if you have been there for set length of time, and if the new rules brought in companies might be able to reduce maternity leave so that you had to go back sooner. personally i'd be happy to go back at 20 weeks but others like taking whole year off.

actually it slightly worries me as i think companies will shy away from employing women who might have a baby so might make it harder to move job, not to mention huge risk in employing a nanny?

yeah I know, I agree with what you're saying about employers steering clear of women 'of childbearing age'

Wish my employer offered a 20wk full pay package! I get the bog standard 6wks @ 90% of earnings, 33 wks SMP.

I sooo wish they'd thought of this sooner

I don't wanna go back to work so early.

xx

i have only been with my employer for a year so only get statutory too, but it would have been more generous had i been there for 2 years.

I've been with my employer for 3 years so you'd think it'd be a bit more than basic but no....apparently my bosses are tight.

I work for a solicitors firm with 2 offices - I honestly only thought of my situation when I saw the article

Never even thought of the smaller businesses like nurseries and such like!

I just want to be the one who notices dc3's first tooth, weans them onto solids, see their first step. As yet I've missed all these milestones with dd and ds. Don't wanna miss it again. I even missed their first haircut!!!

Actually, I am quite spoint at my work (I am also a silicitor - been there 3 years). I get 8 weeks full pay, 12 weeks half pay, then statutory...so not terrible. At the moment, I am saving like CRAZY so I can take the whole year off....

err... spoilt and solicitor

I'm with you on the saving like crazy!!!

Still worried tho. Dh says we'll be fine and I'm inclined to believe him, I guess....

Just read article. Defo think the 2 week paterniy pay should be paid - it is only 2 weeks for goodness sakes, although I know a lot of companies do pay anyway but not all.

I took a 6 month sabbatical to have fertility treatment but acutally conceived naturally a week after finishing work!!! Very very happy with that however means I can now only claim maternity allowance. Ah well most important thing is am now pregnant.

yes the 2 week paternity pay should definitely come in. wouldn't be before time!

Congratulations on your pregnancy!!!!

I think it would mean smaller businesses won't employ women so readily. My boss even said as much recently .

I have been at my small, highly regarded niche firm for 7 years - I am a chartered surveyor - and I left a big multinational about 6 months before I became pg with #1 - I would have been given 2 months on full pay, 4 months on 50% pay with statutory after that, plus a return to work bonus - stupidly I left!! However, 7 years on, about to have my fourth child, I'm about to start my 4th lot of SMP - so 6 weeks at 90% etc.....they could afford to be more generous - but won't be - the partners would lose too much of their income - a situation that would only be compounded if they had to pay 20 weeks on full pay as obviously they can't claim that back (as they can with SMP).

PAternity pay should equal maternity pay before maternity pay is lengthened or oncreased. As has already been pointed out, increasing maternal benefits will encourage discrimination.

I wonder what would happen if you employed a nanny and she became pregnant? At the moment you get all the SMP back and can actually even ask to get it paid by HMRC upfront. If you had to pay both the maternity pay AND another nanny it would be crippling.

There is a balance though, its a bit unfair that slightly larger employers, eg those employing > 10 people are less generous, esp to women who have worked there for a while.

I also think that the maternity pay (other than the first 6 weeks) should be able to be taken by the father instead - that way business could be concerned about employing anyone not just women!

I actually think the current rules of allowing a whole year off is quite hard for employers - maybe 20 weeks full pay but come straight back might be better for employers???

I am a director of my own company and can claim all of the statutory pay and NI contributions back from the government. Infact for a small company with limited cashflow it can be claimed in advance and is sent as a lump sum. SO I presume that if the statutory at 90% pay were to carry on to 20w, then that would also be the case. However, I have never had to do this for a staff member other than myself, and as a director, my actually salary is very small, so I get it all back. I am not sure about the effects of a larger salary.

As for the nanny situation, I would presume that a nanny would be self employed and therefore be on Maternity Allowance which is all state paid, directly to the mother.

If you employ a nanny who is pregnant you have to employ another one on a temp basis until usual nanny wants to return. But, as you say, the employer does not pick up the tab for maternity pay. It is reimbursed (or possibly paid up front).

These measures will do far more to keep women out of the workplace than will to help those who want to remain in it.

Nannies are only very rarely self employed. And when they are it is because the job is short term, temp, irregular ad hoc hours.

I simply don't think the UK can afford it at a time when we are about to see massive cuts to public services.

And I would prefer taxpayer's money to continue to support families most in need.

I agree, however, that paternity leave should be paid (at least at 90%) for 2 weeks.

I think this would make businesses even more reluctant to employ child bearing age women.

I also think it would be yet another factor that would cement the woman's role as the one who takes time off/becomes main childcarer rather than the man.

If there is spare money around it would be far better put to use extending paid paternity leave, at least to the same that women get now. That gives families far more choices.

A random vote by an EU committee is sooooo unlikely to become law any time soon that it's almost comedy!

Awwww, but I want it to

Nah - tbh I'm happy to be getting 9 months off with this little one, with dd and ds I only got 6 months - can't have everything eh?

nannies can't be self employed unless they are of the maternity nurse sort - ie very short term. if a nanny is working for the same family on an regular ongoing basis they are defacto an employee.

as you say current position is that you can claim it from government in advance - my concern was more is the state really going to cover this or try and push it onto the employer? i can't see that the state can afford it.