Is anyone elses OH taking part of their paid maternity leave?

2522laura

Hi everyone.

I earn more than double the amount my OH does and we were hoping that he would be able to take the remaining 3 months of my maternity leave as I need to go back full time after 6 months to keep our mortgage etc paid. Things is, we ahve to let his company know that it is his intention to take 3 months off by the middle of next week as I will be 25 weeks then and we are now both worried that his company will make things difficult for him or try and find an excuse to get rid of him (there were redundencies 2 years ago).

I would love to hear anyones experiance of this and how their OH company reacted.

Thank you

rpc

The statutory notice required for Additional Paternity Leave is 8 weeks, his employer cannot demand more. No need to tell his company until the baby is 4 months old.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Moneyandworkentitlements/WorkAndFamilies/Paternityrightsintheworkplace/DG_190786

and also from http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Moneyandworkentitlements/WorkAndFamilies/Paternityrightsintheworkplace/DG_190784

It is automatically unfair for your employer to select you for redundancy or dismiss you for a reason connected with:

• Ordinary or Additional Paternity Leave
• parental leave
• time off for dependants

It is so hard to dodge claims for unfair dismissal with expectant/new mothers that most employers who know the law essentially give them immunity. I expect the same would apply to dads.

2522laura

RPC you are an absolute star, I really can not thank you enough. Now we can both relax a bit!

rpc

It just so happens that I was filling out my own paternity leave notification (just ordinary leave) this morning and the company puts the Additional Paternity Leave on the same form.

Lotus-eater

Although the rules say one thing, it really depends on what sort of company he works for.

And what sort of manager/owner he works for.

There are ways around most rules and there are grudges which are kept for all sorts of things by bosses.

2522laura

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Although the rules say one thing, it really depends on what sort of company he works for.

And what sort of manager/owner he works for.

There are ways around most rules and there are grudges which are kept for all sorts of things by bosses.

They are quite good to be fair, he has to have quite a bit of time off with his Crohns and they are always very understanding (he has been there about 7 years now) To be honest it wouldnt be the end of the world if he got made redundant as long as it was after my maternity leave. It is so annoying, we only need about another £180 a month to live soley on my salary then he could bring our child up full time but with the mortgage etc to be paid (we only have a modest 2 bed house) its just not possible at the moment. Maybe I'll get a nice payrise :rotfl:

Lotus-eater

2522laura wrote: »

we only need about another £180 a month to live soley on my salary then he could bring our child up full time but with the mortgage etc to be paid (we only have a modest 2 bed house) its just not possible at the moment. Maybe I'll get a nice payrise :rotfl:

Have you gone over these figures properly, you save alot of money when one of you is at home.

2522laura

I think so. My take home is £1793 a month and our outgoings (including a £120 misc. for anything that might need doing with cars etc) are £2066. We would get £20.30 a week child benefit so would leave us roughly £180 short a month if he stopped working. I'm not sure if we would be entitled to any tax credits, I know we arent at the momeent as our household income is about £42400 - though as I am sure most people will appreciate that doesnt stretch very far when you have a mortgage to pay and a baby on the way! I have already changed all our utilities to the cheapest I can find so I dont really know where I could make any extra savings. I am already putting by as much as I can a month to cover things while I am on SMP.

Do you think it might be possible then? Would be fantastic if it were! :0)

CH27

I certainly saved money when I wasn't working. No more lunches with work friends, coffees & magazines, money in collections etc.
Plus the petrol & parking costs were saved.

Have you planned what to do about childcare?

2522laura

We share a car to wrok as we work round the corner from each other and he takes a packed lunch. We are hoping that he can cut down to a three day week and MIL and my Dad have both offered to help out while we are at work so we should have to pay out any nursery fees. I will also ask if I can work from home one day a week, there is nothing I can do in the office that I cant do from home so fingers crossed they will agree to it!

pleasedelete

2522laura wrote: »

We share a car to wrok as we work round the corner from each other and he takes a packed lunch. We are hoping that he can cut down to a three day week and MIL and my Dad have both offered to help out while we are at work so we should have to pay out any nursery fees. I will also ask if I can work from home one day a week, there is nothing I can do in the office that I cant do from home so fingers crossed they will agree to it!

You can't work from home and look after a baby at the same time. You need to be realistic about that when planning childcare and finances. You won't be doing any work. You may also find that some companies require you to complete annual paperwork as part of working from home that stipulates who is in the house with you etc (one big national company I worked for did it as part of the insurance/health and safety).