bridge too far

Bad I'd rather have the Eton Mess in charge than a hung parliament.

paste

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Moneyandworkentitlements/WorkAndFamilies/Pregnancyandmaternityrights/DG_065153 This says that if you don't intend to return to work, you have to give your employer notice in the normal way. I was wrong though on the repayment element. If a woman decides not to return to work AND IS IN RECEIPT OF AN ADDITIONAL COMPANY MATERNITY PAYMENT she has to repay that. I thought she had to repay all SMP so sorry for that. I imagine most small businesses don't pay additional maternity pay. In fact one daughter, who works for a very large estate agency, didn't get any ADDITIONAL maternity pay at all.

Ha ha If you'd said that to me 5 years ago when my manager went on maternity leave, I would have clocked you! I can remember working 12 / 14 hour days for 6 months or more so that we delivered our project on time. None of this paid overtime, I might add

train

If this happens, then the mother / father concerned has to pay back benefits. Mothers-to-be effectively contract to return to work (for at least 3 months?) once their maternity leave is up. Small consolation for you, I know. But that is the fact and maybe you should have pursued her about this? In reality, most mothers cannot afford to stay at home after maternity leave these days.

Isn't debt accruing since administration the responsibility of the administrator? If so, where will AA get this sort of money from? Please note - this is a rhetorical question

carrot 'n swede

green-eyed

The whole article's very good

envious

Not necessarily. Quite often other staff members take on aspects of the job. This is certainly what has happened in the various NHS departments I've worked in.

talking

tango

Nick - I voiced that view a few days ago and Phil has done so as well. No-one seems to know how this will work. Unless, of course, Baloo has offered the money on the quiet :smt102

Scary looking woman in a blue dress sitting right behind the speakers!

orange

I believe mothers can share (or will be able to share) their parental leave with the child's father? If you were the father of a new child, would you want to be in the situation where the mother of your child had to look for another job after you both had exhausted your parental leave? She might not be able to get one - where would that leave your family finances? One of my daughters had her baby after working for her employer for 10 years. She's a highly valued member of staff. Her employer kept her 'in the loop' during the 8 months she had off (she couldn't afford to be off any longer) so she was up to speed when she returned. My other daughter took 10 months off. Her company recruited a replacement and, now that my daughter has gone back to work, they've kept both employees on. In the case of my second daughter, she got no maternity pay from her employer - just state maternity benefit. I recognise it's difficult for employers, particular small businesses but the net value of having an experienced employee returning must outweigh having to recruit and train a new employee.

In principle, I don't have a problem with local people have more influence about local services. In fact it happens already with school governors, local people being on NHS Trust Boards, my GP has a Patient Affairs group etc. However, if the local control is absolute there are going to be appalling differences in standards from one area to another. At the moment, it's possible to see how your local school is performing compared to others and the same is true of your local hospital. It'll be even more of a post-code lottery IMO.

Yeah I'm watching that too - very funny. I hadn't realised just how tall he is!

Some schools do start to teach french at primary school. My children all started to learn French in their final year (age 10 I guess).

flomax

At the same time? HOw does that work?

Yes they use this at my s-i-l's school partly to help children who are a bit slow in learning to read but also to broaden children's knowledge and understanding. I tried to learn sign language a few years ago when I was teaching a class of deaf children to dance. It's really hard!

accident