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Original poster

Does anyone work FT but make regular use of unpaid parental leave?

135 replies

letsallbemermaids · 26/07/2021 19:14

Considering returning to work after maternity leave full time or nearly full time but actually making use of unpaid parental leave. I've got two children and I've never used it before so I think I should have 36 weeks available (9 years at a rate of 4 weeks a year). If you do this, what sort of pattern do you do? Long summer holiday? Just more frequent weeks off?

OP posts:
TuckMyWin · 26/07/2021 20:32

@letsallbemermaids, from experience having worked 4 days a week, I’d say it’s better for your career to be in full time and take the unpaid leave. I’m not the only one on 4 days at my place, and clients have been very accepting on the whole, but having to constantly turn down meetings on the 5th day and not return emails etc I think has to get you ‘labelled’ and I know there are certain positions I wouldn’t get if I applied for them and expected to continue to work 4 days. They’d let me ‘work’ 4 days, and work for free on the 5th, but I couldn’t actually switch off my phone on a Friday, iyswim.

On the other hand, it depends what you want to achieve with the extra time off. Working 4 days a week worked for me when my children were small and I could have days out with them on the 5th day, take them to swimming lessons in the day etc. With them both at school it will be more helpful for me to be in work 5 days but work flexibly and leave early some days for after school clubs, which I feel I am more likely to actually be able to do if I’m otherwise available all week. Only being available 4 days a week for clients/meetings and working flexibly by starting early/working evenings so I can leave early in the day, would mean I really wouldn’t be available much when other people needed me to be, iyswim.

NotSoLongGoodbye · 26/07/2021 20:32

Be aware your employer can say no OP, by saying there are work requirements and offer alternative dates. So I don't think it is a given you will automatically get 4 weeks every summer

Horehound · 26/07/2021 20:42

Seems like a few folk on here still misunderstanding the policy.

You wouldn't be able to take more than 4 weeks off in one year. And if you used 4 weeks every year you only get 4.5 years worth rather than if you split it over 18 years with one week each year.
A pp said about taking 36 weeks off I'm a chunk...you wouldn't be allowed to do that!

Horehound · 26/07/2021 20:45

Oh but I do have a question. Is it pro rata for part time workers?

Horehound · 26/07/2021 20:46

And would my husband get 18 weeks too? If my husband is at company A and I'm at company B..is it possible we both get 18 weeks to use? How would anyone register it per household?!

dementedpixie · 26/07/2021 20:46

@Horehound

Seems like a few folk on here still misunderstanding the policy.

You wouldn't be able to take more than 4 weeks off in one year. And if you used 4 weeks every year you only get 4.5 years worth rather than if you split it over 18 years with one week each year.
A pp said about taking 36 weeks off I'm a chunk...you wouldn't be allowed to do that!

OP has 2 children so 4 weeks per year would give 9 years worth of leave
Original poster
letsallbemermaids · 26/07/2021 20:46

[quote TuckMyWin]@letsallbemermaids, from experience having worked 4 days a week, I’d say it’s better for your career to be in full time and take the unpaid leave. I’m not the only one on 4 days at my place, and clients have been very accepting on the whole, but having to constantly turn down meetings on the 5th day and not return emails etc I think has to get you ‘labelled’ and I know there are certain positions I wouldn’t get if I applied for them and expected to continue to work 4 days. They’d let me ‘work’ 4 days, and work for free on the 5th, but I couldn’t actually switch off my phone on a Friday, iyswim.

On the other hand, it depends what you want to achieve with the extra time off. Working 4 days a week worked for me when my children were small and I could have days out with them on the 5th day, take them to swimming lessons in the day etc. With them both at school it will be more helpful for me to be in work 5 days but work flexibly and leave early some days for after school clubs, which I feel I am more likely to actually be able to do if I’m otherwise available all week. Only being available 4 days a week for clients/meetings and working flexibly by starting early/working evenings so I can leave early in the day, would mean I really wouldn’t be available much when other people needed me to be, iyswim.[/quote]
Thank you for this. This is really helpful. I took accrued annual leave to work 80% after my son was born and I had the exact same experience you described. I ended up working 90% (every other Friday off) after that but it didn't really work so when I changed jobs I went to full time. My new job is actually family friendly though and I could get away with working my fixed hours in the main. In my current team one works 4 days pw and another works 3 days spread over 4. I have every reason to believe whatever I ask for (within reason) will be approved. I just don't know what to ask for. Financially we can afford for us both to work a bit less.

As a minimum I want to drop some hours so I can do the school runs myself twice a week and work from home on those days. (We've all been working from home since March 2020 so this is absolutely possible.) This would look like 3 x 7.5 hour days and 2 x 5 hour days (9.30-3). I could arrange DS' clubs on the days I finish early and pick up baby from school when our childminder does the school run. But is that enough? So then I was thinking should I aim to have a full day off instead? Should I take parental leave? Should I go for some version of term-time only? I really like my job and before my dad died I was set on going back nearly FT but now I just have no idea what's for the best. I just want to spend as much time with them as possible while still having a successful and advancing career.

OP posts:
dementedpixie · 26/07/2021 20:48

@Horehound

Oh but I do have a question. Is it pro rata for part time workers?
For part time workers whatever their working week is would be their week off. They still get 18 weeks worth of leave
Original poster
letsallbemermaids · 26/07/2021 20:49

@Horehound

And would my husband get 18 weeks too? If my husband is at company A and I'm at company B..is it possible we both get 18 weeks to use? How would anyone register it per household?!
Yes, 18 weeks per child per parent.
OP posts:
dementedpixie · 26/07/2021 20:51

@Horehound

And would my husband get 18 weeks too? If my husband is at company A and I'm at company B..is it possible we both get 18 weeks to use? How would anyone register it per household?!
Yes its 18 weeks each
Rosieposie79 · 26/07/2021 20:54

I used it last year. I had to use my annual leave to cover homeschooling and had then completely run out of holiday so took two weeks parental leave for Christmas/New Year.
My boss had never heard of parental leave and was rather surprised that it even existed.

Horehound · 26/07/2021 20:54

Good to know, I thought it was 18 weeks per child so would be shared between the parents.
So that's handy if it's per parent!

Horehound · 26/07/2021 20:56

@dementedpixie OP has 2 children so 4 weeks per year would give 9 years worth of leave

Yeh I know. I didn't double the figures as I thought it would be obvious. It was more a comment about taking a huge chunk of time off (36weeks) in one go which you can't do

Parker231 · 26/07/2021 20:58

We have a policy for all employees being able to take periods of unpaid leave. Feedback from employees was that they felt that the parental leave was discriminatory as everyone wanted/needed time off work for different reasons. It’s not a well used policy as it’s obviously unpaid and the employer can in the same way as annual leave reject the time you want off and offer alternative dates.

Horehound · 26/07/2021 20:59

Any @letsallbemermaids I used to work full time but after my maternity I cut to 3 days a week and had a tonne of annual leave to take too so I really wasn't on work much at all and found 3 days not enough to get everything done. I then increased to 4 days a week and I love it but I agree with a pp in that I do get the impression people find it an inconvenience that I'm not in on Friday, or miss scheduled meetings or I'm a pain when I say I don't work Fridays etc.

But saying that I think I would prefer 4 days and maybe using 2 weeks of the unpaid leave rather than working 5 days and taking 4 weeks unpaid.

MsAnnFrope · 26/07/2021 20:59

I tried to use it to cut myself some slack during the first lockdown and was told no by my work. Which considering I worked for a well know children’s charity was pretty appalling. Not that I’m still bitter…

SpiderinaWingMirror · 26/07/2021 21:01

I did with dd3. Took 2 weeks each year. One at Easter (so only lost 4 days pay), one at end of August (ditto). This made my remaining leave stretch so much further. Meant I could take the odd day of hols here and there.
Boiled my bosses piss though. Despite the fact I had been there 13 years and had never done anything with my older kids!

Fandangoes · 26/07/2021 21:01

If you want to agree this in advance you may also be able to spread the cost over the full year. So if you choose to take 4 weeks unpaid leave during the year they can adjust your monthly salary so the unpaid leave is spread evenly throughout the year to make it more manageable

Ginflinger · 26/07/2021 21:02

Does anyone know impact on national insurance or pensions of taking unpaid parental leave?

Original poster
letsallbemermaids · 26/07/2021 21:03

@Fandangoes

If you want to agree this in advance you may also be able to spread the cost over the full year. So if you choose to take 4 weeks unpaid leave during the year they can adjust your monthly salary so the unpaid leave is spread evenly throughout the year to make it more manageable
That's a good idea. We've got a term-time working calculator on the staff Intranet so it must be possible for HR to accommodate something like this.
OP posts:
NotAnotherPushyMum · 26/07/2021 21:04

@MsAnnFrope

I tried to use it to cut myself some slack during the first lockdown and was told no by my work. Which considering I worked for a well know children’s charity was pretty appalling. Not that I’m still bitter…
They can’t refuse. They can change the dates but it’s a statutory entitlement for all parents.
Original poster
letsallbemermaids · 26/07/2021 21:04

@MsAnnFrope

I tried to use it to cut myself some slack during the first lockdown and was told no by my work. Which considering I worked for a well know children’s charity was pretty appalling. Not that I’m still bitter…
I'm sorry you had this experience.
OP posts:
Toomuchleopard · 26/07/2021 21:05

I take 2 weeks unpaid parental leave every year. I use it for my summer holidays so I have more annual leave to use for the rest of the year. Although theoretically I could take more I feel it would be career suicide. I usually lose one week from July pay and one week from August so it’s not all in one month.

HunterHearstHelmsley · 26/07/2021 21:08

I'll start off by saying I don't have children.

In my experience, parental leave is pretty useless (unless the child is below school age). Most want to use it in school holidays, this is usually already used up by others annual leave so the employer "delays" the leave as they are allowed to do.

TuckMyWin · 26/07/2021 21:20

@Horehound

Seems like a few folk on here still misunderstanding the policy.

You wouldn't be able to take more than 4 weeks off in one year. And if you used 4 weeks every year you only get 4.5 years worth rather than if you split it over 18 years with one week each year.
A pp said about taking 36 weeks off I'm a chunk...you wouldn't be allowed to do that!

Pretty sure you could, actually. The .gov page says:

“ The limit on how much parental leave each parent can take in a year is 4 weeks for each child (unless the employer agrees otherwise).”

I can’t imagine many people do, because it’s unpaid. And the employer has the right to say no to the dates and defer it to another time, for example so they can arrange a temp if the employee is asking for a very long block of time.