How long do most people take as maternity leave?

[Gangle]

Are most people going for a full year? People I have spoken to really vary but get the impression 9 -12 months is average. Not many seem to take only 6.

6 months last time, 6 months this time. Cannot afford to be off longer (main bread-winner) But also I love my job, and have just been promoted, so enjoying the power - shame the pay increase was not much

Helps if you're a civil servant or similar who gets 6 months full pay - I did, plus 2 weeks holiday before it started and then found out after I went back I got all the accrued leave on full pay too, so had to backdate that, which was another 15 days.

I returned to work when ds was 11 months, rather than 12 as originally planned, partly because wanted money and conversations not about weaning, but also meant ds started nursery in August when there weren't many other babies there, and my work wasn't nearly as busy either, which I thought would help ease my return and starting to work part-time.

I took about 10.5 months. I am the main breadwinner, but am lucky as I get 6 months full pay, so I took that, plus 3 months SMP and 5 weeks plus TOIL for Bank Holidays. We managed the first time round as DH and I both worked FT. Not sure how we are going to manage this time as we both work PT and DH may not even have a job by then

Sorry it's been difficult for you gaelicsheep, you do what you can. Parenting is about more than being at home for a few months. You've got plenty more time to screw your kids up

I took 4.5 months - only get stat min maternity pay, and was by far the breadwinner then. And with no maternity cover, my closest colleague going on mat leave 7 weeks after me, and so none of our non urgent work getting done (but piling up hugely), there wasn't much choice.

I'm currently planning on taking the full year - it will be a struggle but I hope worth it. I am a bit worried about what impact it will have on my career though, not to mention on my team if they don't get proper cover for me as they are threatening.

I'm currently planning on taking the full year - it will be a struggle but I hope worth it. I am a bit worried about what impact it will have on my career though, not to mention on my team if they don't get proper cover for me as they are threatening.

I am currently off on maternity leave and was planning on taking 6 months (thought I would be ready to go back, was due to go back 2nd March). Then I realised how much I enjoyed being a Mum, and that someone else would be weaning her and how tiny she still is, so negotiated with DP for another three months (9 months in total and DD will be 8.5 months old).
We have been extremely lucky though, we got a tracker mortgage just before the crash and currently pay hardly anything due to the base rate.
I am also taking 2 weeks holiday at the end to eek it out further and take DD on her first foreign holiday.

I took 6 months with dd1 and plan to take a year with dd2.This would normally mean 8 weeks 9/10, 20 weeks 1/2 pay plus SMP then 3 months of SMP only, then nothing for last 3 months.

However NHS offer 10 keeping in touch days which you can get paid for, so I will do 5 for 2 of the 3 months of no pay which will only leave me with the one month of hee haw. Next month is the start of my £ 500 a month and I am not looking forward to it.

I earn double that of dh so we are losing a lot of what we are used to, but I am determined as this is my last child.

It varies massively even between children.

With ds1 we had savings so could afford 9m leave but could have taken a year if I wanted...I didn't.

Will dd I only took 6 months, as mat pay had run out.

With dc no 3 mat pay has changed and will get paid 9m and take 9m. However, even within my profession it differs (teacher). In my father's neck of the woods they pay teachers 3m full pay, then a sliding scale to 6m and then a further 6 months SMP allowing many to take the full year.

However, when this kicks in, if it does, then anyone employed by a council might be able to take a longer mat leave.

5 months not going into someone's office (I am self-employed contractor-type person). But worked a couple of hours a day from about 2 months whilst baby being walked round the block by someone else. Think I am at the other end of the extreme to the 'I'm having a year' people.

My baby was 9 months old when I returned to work, just over 2 weeks ago. I took my last two weeks off using accrued leave. Taking 12 mo would have been my preference though.

You could opt for mortgage break, though I couldn't as house prices had dropped, so there wasn't a big enough gap in what I owed and what the house was worth (that matters).

Depending on partner's earnings, or if you're alone, you claim for child tax credits, which might help, as you're classed as 'working' during ordinary mat leave, and they calculate your annual salary, excluding £100 pw of your SMP.

Personally, I used up all of my savings to get my by.

gaelic sheep- i think I am in pretty much the same boat as you are- am main breadwinner and DP will be SAHD- so I am taking off 6 m0nths only (well poss up to 7 as have holiday).
TBH - I could take off more but am concerned that it will be harder to go back the later I leave it, I want to make sure DP starts off as main carer from really early on- and also am bit of control freak and worried about being out for that long - i don't think its unusual 'though I have been a bit thrown at the number of people who tell me I might change my mind/might not want to come back at all etc etc.
Part of me still thinks I might like the idea of coming back earlier but as I'm paid in full for 6 months there is no advantage

Are you concerned that 6 months isn't long enough for you- or is it that everyone else takes longer?

PureAsTheColdDrivenSnow - you made we well up just then! I'm OK thanks but yes I'm pretty stressed at the mo. I'm working way above the level I'm being paid at the moment and we're really struggling financially. They're supposed to be sorting out re-grading (which I've been waiting over 18 months for) quick smart so they can advertise maternity cover but at the moment the personnel team are still quibbling over job titles and seem to have misplaced all the forms I've filled in [grr]. I'm terrified that the result is going to be perverse because they just don't understand a specialist job like mine.

I've been in this boat before in another job - following job evaluation - and I just feel like I've been fighting for years just to be paid at a fair rate for the work I do. I blardy hate the public sector. I'm working at exactly the same level as my colleagues and being paid two thirds the amount, all because work was too blardy stupid to advertise the correct job at the correct level. I still think taking the job was a risk worth taking and I love my work, but boy I am getting frustrated just now. Apologies to anyone I might have taken it out on!!

Phew - sorry for that rant.

Albinosquirrel - I think 6 months will be fine - it worked OK last time, although I would have preferred a little longer to get solids estabished. I'll extend it a bit with leave as well. It's the expectations of others that are making me feel a little guilty.

Sorry to bump an oldish thread but it's relevant to my situation and I didn't really want to start a whole new thread.

I am coming to the conclusion that I won't be able to take much more than 6 - 8 months unless i take a mortgage holiday.

Has anyone who has done this got any advice? I read that my repayments in general will go up once I restart paying... will it be by much? I am on a fixed rate at the moment for another 2 years, maybe even 3.

Also how do people then cope with childcare costs once their mortgage starts up again as mine would work out as being roughly the same as my mortgage payments!

Dd1 was 3 m which was the max,dd2 was 4 m which was the max & I was a Lone parent by that point.

Am pg with dc3 and so excited that I can take a full year( providing nothing goes wrong) actually going to be longer by the time I've added leave on start & end though likely to do the 10 KIT days.

Most people I know take 6m as they are dependant on the money. Mine just pays for extras so we can cope without for a bit.

I suppose I'm quite lucky not to be earning much more than the £125 a week SMP It's not going to be too much of a shock to live on that.

I'm taking 9 months, will be going back two/three days a week when the baby is 7 months.

I took 12 months for both my children in 2004 and 2008.

Hello - looks like this has been closed for a while, but it is really relevant to me right now. I am the main breadwinner and I've just been promoted in my job (after I told them I was pg). Personally I think they are mad. I really loved my old job and my old boss and I am really not enjoying my new job at all and am getting very little support from my new boss. The new job involves more travel, more late night conf calls etc I work an average of 12 hours a day as it is, but theses role is brand new to the company so need to recruit new team, make them productive etc in the 13 weeks I have left before I go on mat leave. Everyone at work is expecting me to only have 6 months and in my previous job that is probably all I would've taken, but I feel so stressed out and miserable at the moment and have so little faith in my boss and his ability that I have asked for 12 just to give me a break from the misery and focus my mind on my child rather than my job. It will make it v hard for us financially and I am concerned about the impact on my career, but the way it is going, if I go back after 6 months, I won't see my baby at all apart from at weekends and even now just being pg I spend most of my weekends on the sofa sleeping or in bed just to recover from the week. At work my old boss is saying he would support me in whatever I do, but running away is not the answer. I don't know what to do :-(

This is an old thread, but just as an observation, I'd say its wise not to beat yourself up about how long you'll take off, because there really is no 'right amount'

In fact I'd say there are pros and cons whichever way. I took 3 months with dd (that's what ML was back then) and the big advantage was that she settled almost instantly with her childminder; no separation anxiety; she never knew any different. The downside is that physically it was tougher on me as I was still ebf and doing night feeds too. A longer ML will be physically easier, as even if you want to bf over a year old, your baby will be weaned by then and not solely reliant on bm, and also you've had longer to get into the whole routine of parenting. Downside is that you may feel more out of the loop with work and also settling your child in childcare is likely to take longer

In the long term it probably makes no odds. So don't beat yourself up: take however long suits you financially and in other ways

Four and five months respectively (part time) and not a moment too soon for me!

Horses for courses.

Going back to work is expensive in that you have pay childcare costs. If you have two children under three then it can make sense to wait a year until the older child can get nursery vouchers to help with the costs of childcare.

I suppose a lot depends on how well paid your job is and costs of working.

True, reallytired- but usually you'd need to be paying for the childcare place still even if you're not using it. Eg if you have a second child and take ML, you will probably have to continue paying the nursery place for dc1
A childminder may accept a lower rate as a retainer but ime most nurseries insist on full pay because they could otherwise fill the place

12 months both tmes. After dc2 going back any earlier didn't make sense as childcare so expensive anyway. Bring on school!

I took about 6mths for DD, then went back to work full-time (being a teacher I did have the holidays, but I could have done with spending more time with DD - I did miss her a bit)
Then a year later I was on maternity leave with DS - went back part-time after 6months which worked well for me - just the right balance of DC and work for me.