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Original poster

If money was no object how long would you like maternity leave to last?

147 replies

Malaleche · 06/06/2007 14:54

If the gov. paid you 100% of your lost income while you were on maternity leave how many weeks or months or years would you take?

OP posts:
ja9 · 09/06/2007 23:31

i was desperate to get back to work when ds was 10 months. very part time tho'.

i think a year would be my ideal.

fransmom · 09/06/2007 23:31

4 months?

berolina · 09/06/2007 23:35

I'm with the 'for ever's.

In Germany they pay you 67% (of your average earnings over the past year before the birth) for a year, with another 2 months on top for the other parent. This only came in at the beginning of this year and has made the pg (which was not unplanned as such but not entirely expected, iyswim) so much less stressful, as otherwise I would have had to go back very early (although I do only work part-time now).

1dilemma · 09/06/2007 23:36

Realistically I think it would be nice to have a real option to go part-time from around 18 months until they are age 3 ish then full time after that. (resisting the temptation to say 18 years! )

fransmom · 09/06/2007 23:37
Grin
1dilemma · 09/06/2007 23:38

14 months at 67% isn't bad!

berolina · 09/06/2007 23:39

It's a huge relief, especially because I've just changed jobs and used to earn a lot more than I do now...

berolina · 09/06/2007 23:39

(my old contract ran out btw - it wasn#t a planned scheme!)

Original poster
Malaleche · 09/06/2007 23:39

yes, 4 piddling months and then everyone is when you dont put your DC into a nursery right away. no wonder no-one bothers to bfeed. I am being made to feel odd because i want to keep DD2 at home till she's 2 yo, like i did with DD1.

OP posts:
fransmom · 09/06/2007 23:41

not odd at all

forward thinking

Original poster
Malaleche · 09/06/2007 23:41

i just read today that a Spanish family would have to have 13 kids to get the same benefits a German one would with 2 kids.

OP posts:
Original poster
Malaleche · 09/06/2007 23:42

fransmom - well exactly, as far as im concerned im investing in my DCs future health and happiness. But it is very hard financially.

OP posts:
Original poster
Malaleche · 09/06/2007 23:43

why cant we all have the same maternity leave options across Europe?

OP posts:
berolina · 09/06/2007 23:47

The Germans have introduced it in a panic about the birthrate (1.3, I think), and (a very openly admitted intention) to encourage more well-qualified, middle-class women to have children . Some of those further down the income scale - e.g. on benefits - who would previously have got 300 euros for 24 months, now only get it for 12. That aspect of it makes me quite , but we will benefit vastly and unfortunately don't have the money to make a principled stand.

1dilemma · 09/06/2007 23:48

is that 300 euros a month?

Original poster
Malaleche · 09/06/2007 23:50

Spain has the lowest birthrate in the world or in Europe for sure, sorry havent checked my facts. They have introduced some new benefits for self-employed mothers recently but i was about 1 month too early to get them, i mean id already had dd2, could have got 3000 euros to pay someone to do my job for me for several months

OP posts:
berolina · 09/06/2007 23:51

yes - which also isn't bad really, I suppose. With ds I had 8 weeks maternity leave - well, 10, as he was 2 weeks early and you got to add it on - plus saved-up annual leave and then I was back - fortunately working a big proportion of the time from home and able to juggle hours, so it wasn't too desperate, but still very hard - I was the only breadwinner at that point. We didn't get any financial support as we were just above the income threashold for the 300 euros.

1dilemma · 09/06/2007 23:52

I wonder what's better 67% for a year or tax credits (would obv. need something to replace tax credits after 1 yr) I bet the 67% is easier/cheaper/fairer to administer!

Original poster
Malaleche · 09/06/2007 23:53

but 300 euros a month was all you would get or on top of other benefits?

OP posts:
berolina · 09/06/2007 23:54

at thought of them introducing tax credits - on top of a tax system that is already the most complicated in the world, I think - here in Germany...

1dilemma · 09/06/2007 23:55

300 euros a month for 12 or 24 months is pretty generous really, I think, isn't it? (presuming people still get all their other benefits). The major 'costs' of having a child are lost wages etc aren't they. Breast feeding and a few babygrows are pretty cheap and they can't all have bugaboos

berolina · 09/06/2007 23:56

Oh no, everyone (I think) also gets 154 euros/month in child benefit. Very generous, I know. And paid until the child is 27 if s/he is in full-time education - which a lot of Germans are until that age and beyond, because of the way the education system works. That I think is a bit ridiculous. Parents are supposed to give the money to their children once they are over 18 but a lot of parents (my ILs included, when dh was stll studying) use the money for their own expenses and the children never see it. (Sorry, this is a bit OT)

1dilemma · 09/06/2007 23:57

Umm hadn't realised the German tax system was compilcated. Is the famed efficiency just a rumour then?

Original poster
Malaleche · 09/06/2007 23:58

oh, just remembered, we get a piddling 100 euros child benefit a month for 3 years and then nothing. 27 years !

OP posts:
berolina · 09/06/2007 23:59

It is generous, I suppose, but the basic state benefit is extremely difficult to live on, by all accounts (have luckily never had to do it) and the 300 euros must be a big relief. The worst thing IMO is that this reduction has been sold as an incentive to get people back into work - as if, with unemployment at 10%, there are jobs lying around on the streets for mothers on long-term benefits...