Shared Paternity/Maternity

skcrip

A bit speculative this one but I thought I'd ask...

My wife is doing a PhD as as such is not enititled to statutory maternity pay, basically her PhD just gets lengthened a bit and she recieves some more funding to cover that extra time. I'm wondering whether the new rules that commenced in April give me any scope to claim more than the standard 2 weeks paid paternity leave? It feels like it would be a technicality but maybe one worth exploring.

Btw, I'm in full-time employment and have been with my employer for 5 years.

Any pointers appreciated!

Thanks

onlyroz

I would suggest speaking to your HR department - I think you might be able to take the second six-months of leave at the standard maternity pay rates.

Has your wife done any additional paid work beyond her PhD in the last year? If so she might be entitled to Maternity Allowance.

I had my son whilst doing my PhD and I was told by the research council that they wouldn't pay me but would let me take a four-month unpaid sabbatical. However, my department agreed to pay me for this four months at my normal grant rate because they had done something similar for another student a year before. Also, because I had done some part-time lecturing work I was able to claim MA.

skcrip

Thanks for the prompt reply!

So perhaps my wife does her 6 months on full grant but no statutory and at the same time I do my 2 weeks of full paternity and then later I could have the option of up to 6 months statutory shared maternity but presumably no actual pay from my employer?

There's an HR drop-in session today so I may go and ask exactly these questions!

Btw, was that the Medical Research Council? The whole maternity thing for PhD students seems to be a bit ad-hoc!

onlyroz

I was funded by the EPSRC, but this was over 7 years ago and so things might have changed. I do remember asking for advice from the benefits people about SMP or MA for students - and the advice I was given was to quit my PhD and claim incapacity benefit :eek:

If you are entitled to extended paternity leave then I think you should get paid for at least some of it - however as it's a fairly recent change in the law you might find that you have to do the digging for info yourself because the HR people might not have had to deal with it before.

skcrip

Thanks again, I will go and ask HR!

findingmyownway

My best friend got pregnant while we were doing our PhDs. Her studentship (from BBSRC) was extended for 6 months (i think) and she was paid at the normal rate during that time.

She had been doing undergrad mentoring etc but I am 99% sure she didn't get any maternity allowance because of this, but maybe she didnt know she was entitled to it.

This is info from 6 years ago btw (:eek: how time flies!)

I suspect that you will not be entitled to stat paternity pay if she is not entitled to stat maternity pay, but hopefully that will be wrong as it does seem unfair.

ETA: Another possibility to weigh up might be to take a full year off PhD study (completely un-register as a student for that year, the practicality of this probably depends on the timing of baby's birth) and then she would be entitled to all the benefits of a non-working person without being penalised for being a student. This would also give her an extra year to do the PhD unofficially, so depends how far on she is and how healthy her thesis is currently looking. If that meant you were able to get the stat paternity pay then you'd need to add up the cash etc for each option and see which worked out best for you all.

onlyroz

findingmyownway wrote: »

She had been doing undergrad mentoring etc but I am 99% sure she didn't get any maternity allowance because of this, but maybe she didnt know she was entitled to it

It depends on how many hours you do - I think you have to have worked for 26 weeks in the 66 weeks before the baby is due. You also have to have earned above a certain amount. I was able to claim because I'd done around 30 weeks lecturing in the evenings over the course of around 18 months - although that was only for 3 hours a week.

JenE_2

We're sharing the 12 months, 9 for me (mum) and 3 for DH. As I understand it, the Additional Paternity Leave is paid at whatever the Maternity Leave would be paid for a woman working for dad's employer. In our case, a woman working for DH's employer wouldn't earn anything from the employer after the first 9 months, so my DH isn't earning anything. Hope that makes sense!

skcrip

Thanks for everyone's responses. I thought I'd feedback what HR told me earlier which is that because my wife doesn't qualify for anything 'official' in terms of maternity pay/benefit she has nothing to transfer and hence I'm not entitled to anything extra!

So I still get my 2 weeks full pay paternity but she gets nothing statutory and hence there's nothing I can claim on her behalf. Seems a little unfair but there you go, don't be student would appear to be the message!

katiechoc_2

My husband was told he could take the 6 months but it would only be at the statutory rate. Might depend on the employer though.

Edited to add: I think you're only entitled to one week paternity at full pay, the second week your employer has to let you have off but it's only at the statutory rate. That's what OH was told anyway.

Fire_Fox

Are you a union member?