baby during f1/2

[gem83]

Hi Guys,

I'm on the graduate entry course and have recently got married. I am 27 and will qualify in 2011. I dont want to leave it too late to have babies, and we are thinking about trying as soon as I qualify. I have heard though to get maternity leave paid you have to have been working for the nhs for at least a year, is this true? Also, how long can you have off as paid maternity leave, and how easy is it to do during fy1/fy2 in terms of coming back to a job?

Any advice appreciated, thanks!

[sarahjd82]

Hi Gem, I am interested to see the response to your question as I am in a very similar situation to you. I will turn 28 shortly after starting working this summer, and got married during medical school. I have heard various suggestions from differnt people about the best time to have babies. One of my consultants said that its a good idea, if possible, to at least get a place on specialty training before maternity leave because then you have a job to go back to, and you'll have been working for a couple of years so there'll be no problems with maternity leave. However, I think that it is a very personal question and depends on when it feels right for you and your partner. I think that if we all kept waiting for the "best" time, then it would never happen as there will always be issues to overcome.

Sarah

[smile88egc]

As far as I know, you have to be working for 1 trust for around 6 months in order to be eligible for maternity leave. You can have 26 weeks off paid ( 8 weeks full pay, 12 weeks half pay and the rest statutory maternity pay (approximately)) and then another 26 weeks off without pay if you want it.
Here's an example of the guidance for London Deanery http://admin.kssdeanery.org/files/st...ing_jul07_.pdf

Hope that's helpful