joint maternity

[Dasher789]

Hi, i have read a lot of threads on this topic so apologies but i cannot get my head around joint maternity leave.

My employer offers 6 months maternity leave at full pay and then it moves to statutory - i assume for the next 3 months and then the final 3 would be unpaid if a year was taken. DH gets 2 weeks paternity at full pay.

Does the joint maternity only work if you are being paid statutory. For example, if we decided we wanted to take 6 months out of work in total - 3 months each - would i get 3 months full pay and dh would get 2 weeks full pay and roughly 2 months and 2 weeks at statutory?

i am trying to get it clear in my head how it works so we can work out what is the most affordable option. any clarification would be enormously appreciated.

Do you mean shared pay/leave?
It depends what your dh"s employers offers for those on shared leave as to what he would get while off.

It also depends what your employer offers for those on shared/leave pay.

If they offer enhanced pay then you could be on maternity leave/pay while your dh takes whatever shared leave/pay his employer offers.

You need to have said when the end of your leave will be and whatever is left of your leave can be used by your dh.

maternityaction.org.uk/advice/shared-parental-leave-and-pay/ explains it better than .gov website

There's no such thing as joint maternity, but if you mean shared parental leave, then what you will each get depends on what your respective employers offer.

Neither of you can take shared parental leave until you've 'curtailed' your maternity leave, and effectively transferred over to shared parental leave.

In terms of pay, check your employer's policy to see if they offer a similar enhanced pay arrangement for shared parental leave as they do maternity leave. Most employers match enhanced pay, but they don't have to.

Your DH will need to check his employer's policy to see if they offer anything at full pay or similar. He doesn't get to use your full pay if he works for someone else.