Conceive from midnight - get £1,300

A BABY conceived on or after midnight tonight will bring its parents an extra £1,300 and the right to more time off work. Women who conceive tomorrow will be the first to receive a £1,100 increase in maternity pay, while their partners will for the first time be entitled to two weeks' paid paternity leave at £100 per week.

A woman earning the average salary of £18,811 will get £3,954 in maternity pay, while a woman earning £40,000 will receive £6,154.

Employers will have to keep a woman's job open for 12 months, instead of the current 29 weeks. They will also be expected to consider seriously requests from new mothers - and fathers - to work flexible hours or part-time.

The Department of Trade and Industry has pledged that parents whose babies are due on or after 6 April next year will benefit from the reforms even if the baby arrives early.

Delivery dates are measured from 40 weeks after the beginning of the woman's last menstrual cycle. For a baby to be due on 6 April that would need to have been around 28 June. Ovulation, when a woman is most fertile, typically comes 14 days later, making 12 July the crucial day.

Tom Beardshaw, of charity Fathers Direct, said: 'We've waited a long time for paid paternity leave. Now is the time for would-be dads to throw away their condoms and celebrate.' Julie Mellor of the Equal Opportunities Commission said: 'If you're planning on trying for a baby, tomorrow is the time to start.'

AN extra large condom has flopped in the UK because British men are too shy to buy them, its maker says. Dr Glenn Wilson, a psychologist employed by the firm Condomi to examine the issue, said: 'Research shows that most men rate their penis as smaller than average, which of course is not true, and may be an illusion based on the distorted view of the genitals from above.' The XXL condom, launched in January, is 200mm long, 20mm longer than standard size, and 54mm across, 2mm wider than normal products.