MSE News: Parents can share maternity leave from 2015

mountainofdebt

wonder how this is going to work though in practice?

The most immediate consideration would be in relation to paternity/maternity pay.....so if a father takes over after say 6 months, would he be paid as if he was just going off on leave (which I'm guessing would be at the same rate as for a woman) or would be considered 6 months in, which may mean no salary?

If its the later will many couples be able to take advantage of it anyway?

Takeaway_Addict

persa wrote: »

If both men and women can take time off, it might help end prejudices in the hiring process towards women "of childbearing age". If both genders are viewed with equal suspicion, maybe the best person for the job might get the job.

As a woman who doesn't have children and doesn't want any, I'm very pleased by this prospect of a more even playing field.

Actually, what's more likely to happen is that if the employer is going to discriminate then they will discriminate against men of that age now as well.

KxMx

Men can father children (and do!) from 16 to retirement, and beyond, so I don't see that as very likely.
My opinion is it's a good thing, and employers always seem to b*tch about anything that may benefit their employees!

LannieDuck

I'm thrilled about this and really hope it'll go through. I've said for ages that the discrimination against women in the workplace is the result of such uneven maternity/paternity allowance.

Men can already take the second half of a women's mat leave if they choose - the extra admin that this new change requires is relatively small compared to the benefits to equal employment.

Employers are only !!!!!ing because they've been discriminating against women of childbearing age for years, and now they won't be able to identify the parents-to-be so easily. Excellent

And as for the idea that men won't want to do this because looking after children is 'womens work' (as I've read in some national newspapers recently), rubbish. My OH is a SAHD, and this would have been great for us. One of my friends is taking advantage of the 6 months' shared leave and has recently taken over childcare while his wife goes back to work, and one of my male colleagues has recently taken adoption leave. There are plenty of men who want to be more involved with child rearing.

Hopefully this may have a knock-on impact for child custody as well. It won't be so automatic that the women always gets custody over the father.

hawk30

mountainofdebt wrote: »

wonder how this is going to work though in practice?

The most immediate consideration would be in relation to paternity/maternity pay.....so if a father takes over after say 6 months, would he be paid as if he was just going off on leave (which I'm guessing would be at the same rate as for a woman) or would be considered 6 months in, which may mean no salary?

If its the later will many couples be able to take advantage of it anyway?

Men already have the right to take over after 20 weeks and get paid whatever is remaining of the mum's SMP. I read an article stating that less than 1% of men take additional paternity leave.

What I like about the new scheme is that you can take a substantial amount of time off together, not just the two weeks of ordinary paternity leave, after which mum is left to cope on her own. I could have done with at least 2 months together in the beginning.

LannieDuck

hawk30 wrote: »

I read an article stating that less than 1% of men take additional paternity leave.

It's a very new thing tho, and I don't think it's been very well publicised.

It'll also need to become more 'normal' before it's a mainstream thing to do. At the moment you do have to be pretty confident as a Dad to walk into a Mum and baby group. It shouldn't be like that, but it often is.

hawk30

LannieDuck wrote: »

It's a very new thing tho, and I don't think it's been very well publicised.

It'll also need to become more 'normal' before it's a mainstream thing to do. At the moment you do have to be pretty confident as a Dad to walk into a Mum and baby group. It shouldn't be like that, but it often is.

I agree. I do worry a little about DH when he takes over. Fortunately we have a bit of overlap, so I can take him to some of the groups we currently attend before he's on his own.

LannieDuck

If you haven't found them yet, many surestart centres do 'Dads groups' once a month.

KxMx

LannieDuck wrote: »

It's a very new thing tho, and I don't think it's been very well publicised.

It'll also need to become more 'normal' before it's a mainstream thing to do. At the moment you do have to be pretty confident as a Dad to walk into a Mum and baby group. It shouldn't be like that, but it often is.

If it helps I think I see more Dads with children in the local park than Mums. Been impressed by the numbers actually!

LannieDuck

KxMx wrote: »

If it helps I think I see more Dads with children in the local park than Mums. Been impressed by the numbers actually!

My OH has commented that he's seen quite a few other Dads with their children at the local playground during the week. Not sure they're in a majority yet, but it's a good start