Government to extend leave rights for parents and carers

Among the legislation the re-elected Labour government will introduce in the 2005-6 session of parliament, outlined in the Queen’s Speech in May 2005, is a parental rights Bill which will extend maternity leave provision, enable mothers to transfer some of their maternity leave and pay to fathers and extend the right to request flexible working to other workers with caring responsibilities.

On 17 May, the Queen’s Speech opening the new session of parliament following the UK general election (UK0504110F), included a commitment by the re-elected Labour government to introduce a parental rights Bill to extend the rights of employees to time off work for parental and other caring responsibilities.

The proposed legislation is intended to:

• extend the period of statutory maternity pay, maternity allowance and adoption pay initially from 26 to 39 weeks and subsequently to 52 weeks by the end of the new parliament;

• improve dialogue between employers and employees during maternity leave, including extending the notice period mothers give when returning to work;

• allow a mother to transfer some of her leave and pay entitlement to the father;

• extend the existing right for an employee to request flexible working arrangements to new groups of people, for example parents of older children and carers of sick and disabled adults.

At the same time, the Labour Party’s election manifesto committed the government to 'simplifying the [maternity leave] system for employers', and acknowledged the 'need to balance the needs of parents and carers with those of employers, especially small businesses'.

The detailed provisions of the Bill will depend on the outcome of a public consultation recently undertaken by the DTI on measures outlined in a consultation document Work and families: choice and flexibility. The closing date for responses to the consultation was 25 May 2005. The government’s proposals will also take account of input from an advisory group with expertise in HR policies, chaired by Mike Emmott of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, set up to help in designing the practical measures needed and to ensure that legislative changes in this area are implemented in a way that is straightforward for business and employees.

Welcoming the announcement of the Bill, Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said: 'Working parents will make big gains from . . . the extension of maternity leave and pay'. However, John Cridland, deputy director-general of the Confederation of British Industry commented that 'Extending family-friendly rights to this extent threatens to make life extremely difficult for small firms . . . Return-to-work notice periods should be increased to three months and employers need to be able to contact mothers during maternity leave to confirm when they will be returning to work.'

Writing in The Times on 30 May, the heads of the Equal Opportunities Commission and the campaigning group Fathers Direct warned the government against the transferable maternity leave option and argued in favour of the more radical approach of creating a system where the leave belongs to family and the parents make the choice themselves as to whether the mother or the father takes it. They also emphasise that adequate financial provision is vital to ensure real choice, urging the government not only to increase maternity and paternity pay immediately, but also to signal a move towards an earnings-related system.

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