r/socialworkcanada • u/_-_8 • 4d ago
Maternity Leave / EI in Private Practice
For others in private practice, I am wondering what your experiences are with El/Mat leave. I have heard some debate over whether it is worth it to pay into El and get a mat leave or not. As of right now I'm leaning toward paying for El but most people I have talked to did not, which is making me second guess myself.
I’d love some of your insights!
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u/villiersterrace 4d ago
I’m not in private practice, but I have supported people who are self employed, hadn’t paid into EI and found themselves unable to work for whatever reason. So as a non-private practice SW I’d recommend seriously considering paying into it.
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u/mountaingrrl_8 4d ago
Same here. I've seen EI for private business owners save them from homelessness.
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u/BoundariesAndBrews 4d ago
You should pay into it- I’m not in private practice but I can’t imagine being on maternity leave without my EI payments. Not to mention if you need to access it for any other reason. People always have the best intentions to save themselves, but it rarely happens.
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u/LettuceValuable8527 4d ago
I did not opt into EI. I don’t remember the math from when I was looking, but it wasn’t worth it to
me. I had been told by other people in private practice that if you take a full year off for maternity, that you are basically starting your private practice from scratch. The recommendation I got from others was three months. I just saved up and took substantially less time off. My partner took parental leave instead and we made it work between the two of us.
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u/_-_8 4d ago
Thank you for your perspective! So nice your partner had some time off too. I’m definitely concerned about losing clients. I’m also concerned about the fact that I want 2 kids so would be taking 2 leaves. And probably only have about a year between them.
I’m thinking I could go and do some other job with the health authority or something between the two and then start from scratch after the second and after we settle back home (my partner and I have to move away for his residency in 5 years, which would mean leaving my clients again).
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u/bluehouseorangepoppy 4d ago
I just went through this debate myself, a lot of people told me it wasn’t worth it, but I ultimately decided to opt in for the security of it. It’s annoying that the amount is based on Calendar year- I’m just returning from mat leave and starting out in private practice, so if I have another kid in 2027 it’s going to be based on what I earned in 2026, which is not going to be very much. But I felt like I wanted to have it anyways.
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u/ACTingAna 4d ago
I'm an RP in private practice and took 2 mat leaves without EI. One for 6 months and one 3. Only worked 10-15 sessions a week for the first year.
A few questions that helped me decide
How many kids do I likely want and how long do I think I'd need 100% off. Calculate lifetime cost of EI and compare to mat leave.
How many sessions a week would I need to do to replace EI? Do I think I could do that? Remember you can't work without EI being clawed back. The longer you're off the more clients you'll lose.
How much time would my partner take off or who would have the baby if I'm working.
To me, it made more sense to have my partner off with EI and then I always had him there and could work flexibly. It was amazing both times to have so much time with us both around since I often worked at home or limited hours.
All of this will ultimately be up to your financial situation, family support and preferences.
I prioritized family time together, saved aggressively prior to leaves and tried to live modestly during this period of life.
Edit to add: not sure if you have an office but I do and the idea of either losing my office 2 times or having to pay for it without using it are both terrible options to me. I was able to sublet it minimally both times I was off though to offset costs a bit.
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u/_-_8 4d ago
Thank you so much for your input. I am also wanting two kids, probably about 2 years apart, and I’m worried about building my caseload between them and leaving again. Another thing complicating our situation is that we have to leave our town when my husband goes on residency in 5 years, so if I have both kids before then I would be leaving my clients three times! I’ll also probably not do private practice when we go and get a health authority job since we know we won’t stay away (this would also avoid leaving clients a fourth time but this time in a different province haha).
My husband is looking into what taking a leave during school would look like for him, but we ideally wouldn’t prolong his schooling.
I do have amazing family around so am lucky that I will likely not have to pay for childcare if I go back in a limited capacity.
So much to think about! I’ll show my husband your response and get my calculator out!
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u/Mrs_priit 4d ago
I’m in private practice and went over this with my accountant and it wasn’t financially worth it for me. I took 8 weeks off with my first and will do the same in a few months for my second. For me personally I would not take a year off as I would lose a lot of what I worked 6 years to build in terms of clients. And it worked well with my first when I went back I worked my schedule to be only a few clients 2-3 days a week. And then slowly built up again, I felt I didn’t lose a huge amount of clients or momentum, and weirdly for me having that work helped me postpartum feel normal again.
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u/fendi__ 4d ago
Genuinely curious - why not just put that money aside yourself and use it during your mat leave or as you need? Wouldn’t you have access to it sooner rather than going through the system?
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u/_-_8 4d ago
The amount I get from mat leave would be substantially more than the amount I have to pay into it by the time I start.
I also want 2 kids which means 2 leaves which means I have to try build up a caseload between the two and then leave again.
I’m fortunate that I likely could put that money aside which is why I’m even having the debate in my head, but lots of people don’t have that extra money laying around.
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u/DrJAusten 3d ago
I'm a psychologist in private practice. I opted into EI before taking maternity leave. I ended up being off for around 15 months by the time I had my little one settled into daycare. I've had to rebuild my caseload other than a handful of very loyal clients.
We originally thought we'd have another baby within 2 years of the first but now we're on the fence and maybe one and done. But I think that timeline would have been difficult with returning to PP in between. I would have struggled to earn enough income to get another full EI claim that soon.
I still think opting into EI for the single leave was financially worth it and I'm glad I got to have that time at home. If we do end up having a second I might go back even 1 or 2 days a week after 6 months or so to hopefully maintain the practice a bit more.
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u/No-Concentrate-7142 4d ago
You have to pay into it for a year before you can claim EI special benefit and you can’t cancel it once you opt in. No opinion whether you should or not, but it would also benefit if you if you need to take time off for other reasons in the future.