Unions hail government climb-down on parental leave

In April 2001, the UK government announced that it would be dropping the restriction of statutory parental leave to parents of children born after the entitlement was first introduced in December 1999. All working parents with children under five will be shortly be entitled to parental leave. The Trades Union Congress, which had mounted a legal challenge against the restricted coverage of statutory parental leave rights, welcomed the government's move.

On 25 April 2001, the government announced its intention to extend the statutory right to 13 weeks' unpaid parental leave to all working parents with children under five years of age. Under the existing Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999 (UK9912144F), statutory parental leave is available only to parents whose children were born on or after 15 December 1999 - the date the Regulations took effect. The extension of the coverage of the Regulations will apply to around 2.7 million parents. The change is expected to take effect later in 2001, and will be backdated to 15 December 1999, the date when the Regulations first took effect. This means that all parents whose children were under the age of five on that date will now obtain the right to take parental leave.

The move follows the European Commission's decision earlier in April 2001 to send a "reasoned opinion" to the UK government, arguing that the restriction of parental leave rights to parents of children born on or after 15 December 1999 is in breach of EU Directive (96/34/EC) on parental leave. The government's announcement also came shortly before a hearing was due to take place at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) of the case against the restricted coverage of the UK parental leave Regulations mounted by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) (UK0006176N). The TUC called off its legal action following agreement that the government would pay the TUC's legal costs, estimated at around GBP 40,000, and give parents previously excluded from parental leave an extra three years within which to take it.

The trade and industry secretary, Stephen Byers, said in a statement: "In our recent consultation [UK0101106F], parents have told us that extending parental leave to all those with pre-school children would make a real difference to their daily struggle of balancing work and family responsibilities. Parental leave was a totally new concept when it was first introduced at the end of 1999. It was important to introduce the right with a "light-touch" approach to give employers time to understand it and its implications. It has worked well and the time is now right to extend parental leave to all parents with children under five."

However, the TUC general secretary, John Monks, said that the government's move was a "total climb-down" and a represented a victory for the TUC and Britain's working parents. However, he emphasised that whilst parental leave remains unpaid, and can only be taken in inflexible periods of a week at a time, few parents will be able to take advantage of it: "The TUC will continue to campaign for parental leave which is paid, flexible and of much more benefit to working parents."

Digby Jones, the director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, was reported as saying that the government's move would stiffen employers' resolve to fight proposals to give working women the right to opt to work part time after having children (UK0104125N).