Maternity leave

Lily193 · Jan 31, 2012 3:35AM

Hi all ,

Not sure if this a bit early but as this is my first I was wondering how long everyone is planning to take off work , if your not already a SAHM that is ?

I'm due 5th June and was thinking of finishing a couple of weeks earlier and using some holidays up and then perhaps going back after Christmas full time . Told work it's a theory but they are making noises about maybe coming back early part time, what does everyone recommend ? Obviously I don't know how I'm going to feel ? Xx

Wif_ · Jan 25, 2012 2:10PM

First time around I planned to finish at 35 weeks but was asked if I would leave at 31 weeks instead on full pay. I said yes of course. I really enjoyed having the time to myself to chill and prepare. I left at the end of Feb had baby beginning of April and went back to work in the January when my son was 9 months old. This was right for us. I had stopped BF in the day and we had got weaning well and truely underway.

This time is a bit different because I now work for myself running baby sensory classes. There is a lot of lifting and shifting of heavy equipment so I am currently interviewing for a class leader. They will start assisting me in April. I will then stop doing the classes in May and I plan to return to work at the end of January. Technically I will not be stopping completely though because will still have all of the admin etc to do from home.

Wow that was long winded. Basically it is different for everyone but that is what I did.

XTinksX · Jan 25, 2012 3:29PM

First time round I took holiday from 35 weeks then maternity leave from 38weeks. I took 6 months maternity then a fortnight holiday and went back when baby was 6 1/2 months.

I went back full time but hubby is a stay at home dad.

This time I'm hoping to work to 39 weeks, then a week holiday and mat leave from my due date. I hope I can get that far, as being the sole earner the time I can take off is really limited financially. DS was a week early so in theory I could go into labour at work, but then I do work at the hospital!! Id rather have my time off with the baby than before he arrives.

Feebs76 · Jan 25, 2012 4:27PM

I finished up at 34 weeks last time, i could have worked longer as i was really fit and healthy but I planned on taking the year off so had to use up my holidays.

Same this time round, I have 9 weeks holiday to take, so I'm taking 2 weeks at the end of this month then finishing up at 33 weeks!

I'm already part time and plan on taking the full year again.

So only 10 working weeks left and as I work 12 hour shifts it's only 17 shifts left!!! Yey x

Where do you work to get 9 weeks off?!? I want to join

I am due end of June and am hoping to finish at about 37 weeks and then take 5 1/2 months mat leave and hopefully my full 4 weeks holiday returning late january when the baby is coming up for 7 months. It depends on if I am allowed to carry my AL into January though as usually you have to take all holiday Jan-dec. I am pretty sure a colleague who has just had 13 months off was able to carry her holiday round. I'd love to take longer off but we don't have the money

I would say Lily, don't get pushed into coming back early because it's what work wants. I did that with DD1 and I still regret it. I went back when she was 17 weeks old after 20 weeks mat leave and it was horrible. I went back part time but it was still too soon for me but I felt so guilty at leaving my colleagues in the lurch. No one has ever shown any appreciation for it though and no one who has been pg in my team since has taken less than 9 months, bar me with DD2 where I had 7 1/2 months but that was because of personal finances, so it really wasn't worth the sacrifice...

isabellasmummy · Jan 25, 2012 4:44PM

last time i finished mid may using holiday had planned to start my maternity leave on june 12th but dd came on 6th so was started then i went back to work part time this april started a new job, i could face leaving her any earlier.

This time i'll be finishing on may 27th and using 2 weeks holidays then start mat leave on june 10th my edd is july 1st but being a c section will be around the 25th of june. i'm planning on taking everything that i'm paid for off so think i'll be going back around march time. x

sarahk2 · Jan 25, 2012 5:24PM

ive been thinking long and hard about this! and its causing me grief, financially i cant really take the full year off even though id love to! but i want to be home as a family for a week or so when my hubby gets back from afghan next april. so id need 11 months off but will have 3 weeks annual leave to use and i wont be leaving work till week before due date xx

*BabyPrincess* · Jan 26, 2012 5:07AM

I get 3 months full pay, 6 months SMP and on top of this it's hopefully coming in april we can either have another 5 weeks full pay or 10 weeks half pay. That said I'm going back in mid Jan for 2 days a week and 1 weekend in three x

MummyLintern2Be · Jan 26, 2012 5:39PM

i finished at 38 weeks with first as we couldnt afford for me to be off for a long time so wanted all the time after with baby , it wasnt too bad as i got bored waiting so glad i worked longer , i did find going back at 6 months hard but financially i didnt have a choice , i used annual leave to work 4 day weeks for the first 3 months and had every wed off which broke the week up and made a difference and in all honesty once i was back it just became normal to go to work .. its hard as you wont know how you will feel and money can make a big difference to how long you take off

this time my hubby has a new job so financially we can hopefully afford for me to take the whole year which i am going to do as this may be our last child so want to spend as much time as i can with both my babies , i will be finishing at 35 weeks as i have to take my hols before i finish in case i take the year cos it runs across our holiday years, i am going to look for a new job though this time so may have to go back earlier if the right position comes up , i want to work part time and part time finance jobs are few and far between so may have to sacrifice some of the time for longer term better hours xxx

Feebs76 · Jan 27, 2012 5:21PM

Wow that is reallly good littlewulf

We get 5 weeks theoretically plus bank hols but mine gets pro rated including bank hols as i work a 4 day week and 3 of the days are for the shut down between Christmas and new year which can't be taken at any other time so it actually ends up that I have just 17 days AL. Rubbish! One of my reasons for planning my mat leave the way I am as I want to make sure I don't lose out on the extra bank hol in June for the jubillee and I am planning on finishing mat leave but taking holiday from Christmas day so I don't lose the 6 days there for the bank hols and our shut down! Then I can use my 4 weeks AL to get me through most of January.

That is my plan anyway. Just hope HR agree to taking the AL in jan...

Suej11 · Jan 28, 2012 5:06PM

I'm having a nightmare trying to calculate what my maternity pay will be to help work out whether we can afford for me to take the full year off. I've been working full time in Nhs for a year although my contract is for 4days. I've been doing short contracts for the additional day but now I'm pregnant they won't continue it past April. One person at payroll told me this won't affect my pay as calculated on ave earnings at qualifying week but someone else told me this only applies to first 6weeks. So who do I believe!?!

Feebs76 · Jan 29, 2012 4:30AM

I believe that as long as you have 6 months continuous employment with the same employer by week 25 of your pregnancy you are entitled to full SMP which is 90% of your average weekly earnings ( and I think you can specify which 6 weeks within the 6 months they calculate this on if it has varied) for the first 6 weeks then statuaratory pay (??113 a week ish) for the remaining time up to a total of 9 months/38 weeks...

I'm sure there's something on the dwp website that lists it all out and I dont think this should be affected by being on a contract unless they pay any enhanced mat pay to permanent employees only...

PBubs · Jan 29, 2012 10:35AM

Thanks for the reminder about the extra June bank hols Feebs!

I'm due 18th June and I am planning to take my 4 weeks annual leave prior to this and have my SMP start on my due date.

With the extra bank holidays I will probably use those extra days with the 4 weeks holiday or at other times in the run up.

We are about to put out house on the market and who knows where we'll be in the moving process by the time my holiday comes around that's primarily why I'll be taking it before the baby comes so that if I need to sort the house out I can.

Due to the house situation I also need as much full pay as late as possible to help with this so saving my annual leave until next year and starting SMP earlier won't help with this so much.

Not sure when I will go back, hubby started a promotion in September which has the potential for me to not need to work but this month is the first month he's managed to hit target (as it's taken a long time to find his feet and stuff) to allow this so we will see how the next year goes and how he's doing. He doesn't want me to have to go back if he can support us which is nice.

_mummy2grace_ · Jan 29, 2012 3:02PM

SMP has gone up to a staggering ??128 per week (lol) !!

everyone is entitled to a staturory minimum of 5.6 weeks holiday a year (28 days F/T) out of which employers CAN use bank hols (of which there are useually 8) leaving you with 4 weeks ordninarily. I work 3 day weeks so get 16.8 days per year. By the time I go on maternity leave in May I would have had 3 bank hols off (My year runs Jan-Dec) New Years Day, Easter Monday and May day , therefore leaving me 13.8 (they cant round down) or 24 if I worked F/T (including good Friday then). so I effectively have 4 weeks and 1.8 days to take prior to maternity leave (taking the full year off! x

MrsGriff10 · Jan 29, 2012 3:37PM

Baby is due on 31st May so I was thinking about starting my leave on 28th May and using all of my holiday before then to finish at the start of May. My boss wants me back in December but I haven't quite decided yet. Her plan is for me to keep some holiday, work 2 days per week and then use 3 days holiday per week so I get paid for a whole month. But I'm unsure yet. I was thinking about taking the whole of 2012 off but if they need me in December I could use some of the 'keeping in touch days' to get paid for my work and to keep getting my maternity allowance.

Why has it got to be so confusing!

Suej11 · Jan 31, 2012 3:35AM

Fingers crossed the first payroll person I spoke to was right, if the occupational maternity leave is calculated on the ave then that's better as I was full time during the qualifying period! I emailed our HR person yest for confirmation as will need to put in my application for leave next week.

Why don't they make it easier for us to calculate!

Maternity leave

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