Support for families with multiple births

What it asks

What the petitioner did first

1. 15 Mar 2018
   Public Petitions Committee

   New Petition
   1 mention
2. 28 Jun 2018
   Public Petitions Committee

   Continued Petitions
   1 mention
3. 6 Dec 2018
   Public Petitions Committee

   Continued Petitions
   1 mention
4. 5 Sep 2019
   Public Petitions Committee

   Continued Petitions
   1 mention
5. 16 Jan 2020
   Public Petitions Committee

   Continued Petitions
   1 mention
6. 17 Sep 2020
   Public Petitions Committee

   Continued Petitions
   1 mention
7. 25 Nov 2020
   Public Petitions Committee

   Continued Petitions
   1 mention
8. 27 Jan 2021
   Public Petitions Committee

   Continued Petitions
   1 mention

1. Scotland407 79.2%
2. England55 10.7%
3. United Kingdom43 8.4%
4. Wales3 0.6%
5. Australia2 0.4%
6. United States2 0.4%
7. Canada2 0.4%

1. Paula Peacock 2 Feb 2018
   As a twin Mum with premature babies this affect me. Please help us.
2. Deborah MacLeod 2 Feb 2018
   Twins are twice the cost but receive only half the financial and non-financial support.
3. Mrs B 3 Feb 2018
   I completely agree that more support is needed for families of multiples. Having had a singleton before the birth of my twins, I felt so much more isolated after having my twins. I felt as though I was left to it with no health visitors etc understanding the struggles some multiple parents can face.
4. Aimee 3 Feb 2018
   I think this is a very important petition. Multiple births are increasing and affecting more families. The support given is not sufficient and results in financial difficulties and hard decisions being made. Many mothers of multiples would love to return to work but are unable to as the cost of childcare is double that of a singleton. This means there is a huge disadvantage to parents of multiples. In many cases childcare is costing the same per hour as the hourly pay rate of the parent. In order to allow more parents to return to work, the government should be supporting parents of multiples. Although there is a cost to this, long term it means more families will be able to return to work. The advantages afforded to children in childcare has already been noted by the government, hence the implementation of free hours, unfortunately this rarely benefits households with one working parent and so puts children born as a multiple at a disadvantage and unable to access these services. I think this petition should be thoroughly discussed in order to offer some financial parity to the benefits parents of multiples are entitled to, to bring them in line with those that parents of singletons receive. As multiples are born at the same time, they should get the same amount of child benefit. The amount of maternity pay and leave should be increased to take into account the number of children born in each pregnancy. Multiple pregnancies are more likely to results in premature births. This means babies more babies are born earlier and are more likely to spend time in hospital, in NICU or SCBU. This means that parents do not get the same bonding time at home as parents of term babies do. In these instances the length of maternity leave should be looked at. Multiple pregnancies are higher risk and maternity leave is usually taken earlier than a singleton pregnancy. This can mean less maternity pay, if they are on sick leave when the pay is calculated. Yet another disadvantage.
5. Kim Mackay 3 Feb 2018
   My twins turn 3 on 9th March meaning they miss April intake for funding, I'm now possibly going to loose my job completely as I cannot afford to pay to put them both to nursery for the next 5 months until their funding begins.
   It baffles me as to why people on benefits, who sit ' home doing nothing & not working get funded nursery care from the age of 2!
   I want to work, I strive from my career & it's something I'm passionate about but I'm not able to work to my full potential as it's just not worth my while due to high nursery costs.
   This is so back to front & needs to be dealt with.
6. Jennifer Black 3 Feb 2018
   Our twins were luckily born full terms but although the experience has been amazing and we are very blessed it has also been very stressful. The financial implications are very significant. I wasn't entitled to the surestart maternity grant because I work part time (earning very little) and we have a 3 year old. Although our babies were very healthy they were small so like most multiples spent some time in hospital, which eats away at paternity leave.
   Any support for parents of multiples makes an immense difference
   - particularly those whose babies are premature though.
7. Anne Kelly 3 Feb 2018
   As a parent of one child I have found many difficulties with being a new Mum and the support that you receive financially and emotionally. I do not believe it should be the same if you have multiple births as it is more than double the work. Everything is so much harder and the financial implications are huge to a family for day to day living. The government should be supporting families with multiple births in a way that enables them to all children the best start in life. As a teacher it is about getting it right for every child from birth and this should be considered when taking into account financial and emotional support for multiple births.
8. Louise Searson 4 Feb 2018
   Excellentt idea, very little additional support when you have more than one baby xx
9. Alyson Kirkland 5 Feb 2018
   100% support from me. I delivered our boys early after a struggle with twin to twin transfusion syndrome. They were born at 34 weeks and spent 19 days in hospital. In that 19 days we spent a fortune, going back and forward to be with our boys. I was unable to drive after my ceasarean, when my fiance went back to work (he did this as we couldn't afford to have him off the whole time they were in hospital and he wanted to be able to spend some time with his first babies when they arrived home with us.
10. Lyndsey Birrell Palmer 5 Feb 2018
    As a mum to triplets plus a 2 year old, we really struggled with things, particularly in the early days. We especially feel that longer paternity leave would make a huge difference as 1 parent to 3 new born babies really is a struggle. We were lucky that the triplets only spent a fortnight in hospital, but that was the fortnight of paternity leave over and we struggled after that. So to parents of multiples born more prematurely, this is even more of an issue.
11. Michele Foran 5 Feb 2018
    Is child benefit in its current form based on ability to reuse equipment etc in the case of multiple children (assuming that you have singleton births) or is it based on what the government believe is adequate support for any family regardless of number of children? I would be interested to hear if anyone knows.
12. Donna Birrell 5 Feb 2018
    My sister & partner hav triplets & a toddler so feel quite strongly about this subject
13. Denise mcansh 5 Feb 2018
    there needs to be more help and support for families
    and parents of multiples. There are so much more different challenges and aspects to having multiples that are not considered and catered for in current laws and legislation.
14. Michelle Innard 5 Feb 2018
    This is a great idea and I totally agree. I have a five year old singleton child and was able to go back to work part time no problem but with my seven month old twins there is no way I can go back to work so the financial implications are huge. Good luck I hope you manage to get some success with this x
15. Julie McLean 5 Feb 2018
    I agree. It seems like inequality, almost as if families are penalised for having a multiple birth. It's quite different from having two singleton births, because that is a choice.
    Child benefit is money for the child's needs. I can understand why I get less for my second and third
    - they can wear their big brothers clothes. However, someone with multiples has to buy both at the same time.
16. Lisa Kelly 5 Feb 2018
    As a mum to 3 year old ID twin girls we have found it hard financially. My husband had to take a career break as the childcare costs were phenomenal!! Everything is double the cost. It was not a choice to have a multiple birth
17. alan mcfarlane 5 Feb 2018
    My Son's wife had twins and it was a traumatic time for her physically.
18. Kerri Justice 5 Feb 2018
    Agree that twins or more is totally different to 2 single births and the rights and entitlement for maternity, child benefit etc do not refect the costs associated with having multiples. Maternity leave starts earlier than with single which reduced time spent with children to return to work. Child benefit for not cover cost of their being a requirement for more than one of everything. I would like to see it changed to provide better support.for those who have multiples.
19. Archie Kirkland 6 Feb 2018
    Background information puts the case accurately
    - worthy of consideration and support
20. Fiona Beattie 6 Feb 2018
    I could not have gone back to work without the free child care given to me by my parents
    I am 100% behind this and the cost of having two children at the one time is huge.
21. Karen Reddy 8 Feb 2018
    Could not agree more with this petition. Parents of multiples are clearly hugely disadvantaged by the current system and that should be addressed.
22. Brenda craig 9 Feb 2018
    Having twins or multiples is harder than single birth and should be helped accordingly
23. Catherine Martin 9 Feb 2018
    Having twin grandsons I see the difficulty their parents have getting nursery care. It's very expensive trying to get them into nursery and trying to get back into work. Some legislation is needed to help parents financially .
24. Lesley McAllister 9 Feb 2018
    Could not agree more with this petition. More support should be avalible both emotional and financial.
25. Laura Sommerville 15 Feb 2018
    I have twins and I am more than aware of the financial difficulties that has to be addressed
26. Rosie Winch 15 Feb 2018
    When I go back to work the nursery fees for my twins mean that I would only have £20 of my monthly salary left.
27. Tracy Burke 15 Feb 2018
    Having had premature twins the emotional impact is great and believe more support emotionally & financially cannot be underestimated
28. Paul Kesterton 15 Feb 2018
    Go Jen
29. Anon 15 Feb 2018
    I would like to see more help with childcare costs for nursery under 3 or free hours allocated earlier for those with twins. Even with childcare vouchers or taxfree childcare the phenomenal cost of having 2 children under 3 at nursery means it's not financially viable for most women to return to work.
30. Sandra logan 15 Feb 2018
    As mother to triplets I totally agree more financial support given its a real struggle.
31. Rebecca Taggart 16 Feb 2018
    I am a mum of twins on low income, why should my second twin get less money because he came out of me 7 minutes after his brother, it makes no sense!
32. Gioia Henderson 16 Feb 2018
    Both children require the same provisions as they are growing up. However by giving one less money than the other both are considered by this financial implication to be less important than one child. This causes financial and emotional complications for parents. Perhaps if multiples were given the same provisions the would be considered equal and welcomed into society.
33. Fiona 17 Feb 2018
    Free hours for multiples would help so much. No matter what your financial status, not just for low income families. As a working family we feel penalised for working and having to pay for expensive childcare.
34. Fiona Anderson 25 Feb 2018
    I think there should be more maternity benefits when it is a multiple birth. I also feel the mother should be given longer paid maternity leave. There is a lot more expense with a multiple birth.
35. Kelly Young 25 Feb 2018
    I was fortunate enough that my twins were born just over 3 weeks early however there are a high number of multiple births where the babies are born very prematurely. The time spent in hospital takes up most of your maternity leave which is quite sad. I had to start my maternity leave a lot earlier than I would have if i was having just the one baby. I was absolutely exhausted and could not make the daily commute to and from work. I would like to see more financial support given to families of multiple births. For example, we were not entitled to the health in pregnancy grant as we were not claiming any sort of benefit. Just because we are not entitled to any other benefits does not mean we have an abundance of money! I am not expecting the government to pay for me to look after my babies but I just feel that all the guidance, rules and criteria are all based on one baby being born at the one time.
36. Sam Seddon 27 Feb 2018
    I had to stop work earlier than I wanted due to getting so big and uncomfortable I was unable to work. So I have already started my statutory maternity pay and had my first six weeks at 90% before I have even had my twins. And I can only afford to take 5 months off work which is already worrying me. Some extra financial benefits should be put in place to help multiple mums and release some pressure.
37. Claire 27 Feb 2018
    The physical, emotional & financial burden on families is significant. It cannot be compared to the a person having a second or third child. This needs to be recognised.
38. Debbie Staniforth 27 Feb 2018
    My twins were born almost ten weeks early and my Maternity leave started on the day they were born. We spent 2 months in hospital. I should have been on anual leave before maternity started. I had planned to finish work earlier than most with single pregnancies due to the strain on my body. I think slightly longer Maternity leave for multiple pregnancies would be a great benefit.
39. Lorraine 27 Feb 2018
    Mothers of twins, triplets or more are at a higher risk of suffering from post natal mental health issues and depression. The pressure and struggle of day to day life with multiples is hard and more support with free childcare hours would be a massive help. At the moment nursery for twins is in excess of £75 per day and that is with a discount. Longer maternity leave and greater financial support needs to be addressed.
40. Lisa Mcshane 27 Feb 2018
    Agree totally woth everything said. I was on basic maternity afyer having my twins and it wad terrible
41. Linzi 27 Feb 2018
    Whilst I was fortunate enough that my twins were born at 37 weeks and therefore did not require additional medical assistance there are a high number of multiple births where the babies are born prematurely and long hospital stays are needed. As a result a great deal of maternity leave can be spent in hospital. In addition, paternity leave often needs to be taken from the date the babies are born therefore partners are back at work before the babies are home.
    
    Personally, I had to start my maternity leave earlier than I did with my first singleton baby, as I was physically exhausted and uncomfortable. This meant that my maternity pay started earlier than I had initially thought. I think its also important to address the financial implications of having multiple births. The maternity pay, benefits on offer are no different to those having single births and whilst I intend to return to work there is no discounts or additional support on offer in regards to childcare and nursery placements.
42. Leanne 27 Feb 2018
    As a Mum of twins born at 29 weeks, I understand all two well the struggles, emotionally and financially of having twins. My company maternity pay had ended whilst my children were still in hospital and lost out on 2 months of maternity leave whilst they were cared for in neonatal.
43. Emma 27 Feb 2018
    Being a mother of twins I strongly feel double statutory maternity leave should be offered in comparison to a single birth in terms of time and money.
44. Audrey McLay 28 Feb 2018
    My twin grandsons were both 8 weeks early. My daughters and her partners maternity leave started on the day they were born.By the time the boys came out of special care there was hardly anytime left. They were left with a huge financial burden ..Even the cost of baby items was expensive. ie Their twin buggy was £1400 alone.
45. Sharon Coull 1 Mar 2018
    Definitely agree.
46. Wendy 1 Mar 2018
    Multiple births are (generally) not through choice, where as singleton births are. Thus there should be more benefits available to those of multiple births.