Can you extend our maternity leave past 12 months?

Please ignore the our in the title…meant to read your
Thanks x

I don't think so. You could add another 4 weeks of unpaid parental leave. I've done it but I think 4 weeks is the maximum.

You can't extend maternity leave, the entitlement is 12 months only. You could take sick leave if that's appropriate in your circumstances. You can self certify for the first week, then require a fit note after that.

If you want more time off because you want to enjoy time with your baby after struggling in the first 6 months (as mentioned in your post), you might be better to consider alternative options such as unpaid leave or requesting a sabbatical. If you truly are sick/unfit for work then sick leave is appropriate but - a word of caution - if you aren't sick and are using that as a way to extend your leave, you could get into a lot of trouble if found out.

I think it would all depend on your employer whether you can have the unpaid time off, but legally Maternity leave ends after 52 weeks.
You can take up to 4 weeks per year (per child) unpaid parental leave (I think up to a total of 18 weeks or similar) but they don't have to agree with your requested dates. Do you have any annual leave you can use to contribute to your time off?

Unlikely, you wouldn’t be able to take sick leave if you’re not actually sick.

As it would be unpaid leave anyway, you could quit your job and stay at home with baby for longer and then go back to a new job?

Agree with others that you wouldn’t be able to use sick leave but I feel the same regarding potentially not being ready to go back after 12 months (not had PND just not ready), I’ve had a meeting with my employer where I’ve asked for a 6-12 month unpaid sebatical to extend my leave. You could try that? I’m sure if you explained the circumstances they would understand x

You can use your accrued annual leave at the end of your maternity leave, that would give you a bit longer. If you're sick then you're sick and normal procedures apply, but if you're not sick when you return then that wouldn't be legitimate.

If your doctor is happy to sign you off, then try that! You'd just have to go back to docs every 2 weeks / month depending on how they'd do it. I don't know if there's anything "agreed" for PND and maternity leave....maybe there should be!
As Jade has suggested have a conversation with your employer and explain the situation, they may extend some sympathy and allow you unpaid carers leave. Good luck!

Your employer may allow unpaid leave. Ours does, but it has to be discussed with managers and approved. A colleague of mine had 6 months unpaid leave, another of mine has had a rolling unpaid leave period after the birth of his son, but it all depends on HR/availability etc.

Thanks all! Definitely wouldn’t go off sick on return to work if I felt well enough to work.
More wondering if you could back date sick leave? So start your maternity leave from the point you would normally be well enough to return to work.
Realise I didn’t make it clear what I meant haha
Thank you! I’ll try talking to my employer to see if they’ll let me have unpaid leave.

I think you CAN be on sick leave then maternity but it has to be done at the time rather than in arrears. Good luck, hope they are able to help and I'm glad you're in a better position now

I'm afraid your maternity leave has to start the day after the baby is born, if not before. So hopefully you get some helpful answers from your employer about taking extra leave because I think that's your only option ☺️