The Maternity Story

This subject came up because I'm pregnant and due in June. My cousin and a good friend of mine in England asked me how much time off I would be taking and I told them that I would be taking 6- 8 weeks off. They were very surprised because the standard in England is 9 months. She said it depends company to company but usually 3 months you get 2/3rd of your pay, then another 3 months 1/3 or 1/2 of your pay and then for the last 3 months unpaid. This was very surprising to me because 6-8 weeks is standard here and you may or may not get paid for this time depending on the company you work for. I think most people would get fired if they asked for 9 months. Not sure why there is this big difference between maternity time in both countries.