Stephen Booth:

Where I work women can take up to 2 years maternity leave (after a qualifying period, 5 years I think); 6 months at full pay, 6 months at half pay or SMP (whichever is higher) and then a year at zero pay.  If they are in the pension scheme then the employer continues to make pension contributiosn so their service for pension is not impacted.  If they haven't completed the qualifying period then they get pro rata on time (so if they are half way through they can take 3 full/3 half/6 zero pay), and the qualifying period continues to accrue (so if they have 2.5 years service and take a year maternity they will come back with 3.5 years service) as do all other timeserved benefits (automatic increments, additional annual leave &c).  They also accrue annual leave (and retain any left over leave from the year they started maternity leave and if they were off for more than a year the leave year encapsulated within their maternity leave) so very often the first thing that happens when a woman comes back off maternity leave is she then goes off on annual leave to use up the leave she has accrued.


Until the legislation around paternity leave and later shared parental leave, men got two weeks unpaid that had to be taken within the first year after birth and could only be taken in blocks of one week at least 4 weeks apart.


Things are slightly more equal now but there is still a strong reluctance by managers to allow men to take parental leave.  I've been involved (as a rep/advisor) in two cases where a male member of staff has had a spotless record for years but after requesting and getting (only after a grievance) parental leave has found themselves facing a series of disciplinary cases on minor matters.

Stephen Booth:

Where I work women can take up to 2 years maternity leave (after a qualifying period, 5 years I think); 6 months at full pay, 6 months at half pay or SMP (whichever is higher) and then a year at zero pay.  If they are in the pension scheme then the employer continues to make pension contributiosn so their service for pension is not impacted.  If they haven't completed the qualifying period then they get pro rata on time (so if they are half way through they can take 3 full/3 half/6 zero pay), and the qualifying period continues to accrue (so if they have 2.5 years service and take a year maternity they will come back with 3.5 years service) as do all other timeserved benefits (automatic increments, additional annual leave &c).  They also accrue annual leave (and retain any left over leave from the year they started maternity leave and if they were off for more than a year the leave year encapsulated within their maternity leave) so very often the first thing that happens when a woman comes back off maternity leave is she then goes off on annual leave to use up the leave she has accrued.


Until the legislation around paternity leave and later shared parental leave, men got two weeks unpaid that had to be taken within the first year after birth and could only be taken in blocks of one week at least 4 weeks apart.


Things are slightly more equal now but there is still a strong reluctance by managers to allow men to take parental leave.  I've been involved (as a rep/advisor) in two cases where a male member of staff has had a spotless record for years but after requesting and getting (only after a grievance) parental leave has found themselves facing a series of disciplinary cases on minor matters.