Parental Leave Regulations

Clegg wants to reform the “Edwardian” rules that “patronise women and marginalise men”

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has announced that the government will be pressing ahead with plans to change current parental leave regulations. As of April this year new fathers will be entitled to take up any remaining unpaid leave if their partner goes back to work early. Whilst mothers are still guaranteed the first six weeks of maternity leave receiving 90% of their full pay, these changes will mean the remaining 46 weeks can be shared in a variety of ways between the parents with men being entitled of up to 6 months of this (three months paid at the statutory rate, three months unpaid) rather than the current allowance of 2 weeks.

The announcement of these changes has sparked great debate and discussion in the media. Brendan Barber of the TUC states that this “extension is welcome. New parents should be able to decide for themselves who looks after their baby in the first year, rather than having that decision dictated to them by the government”. The changes could be advantageous for the labour market too by evening out the playing field in regards to employers hesitations when hiring women due to their concerns about time off to start a family. Now that this leave is becoming a shared responsibility it should make these worries obsolete.

From a business perspective these proposals have received a “cautious welcome” from the CIPD with David Frost of the British Chamber of Commerce stating they will “simply burden businesses with more red tape and deter them from taking on new starters”. The feasibility of companies arranging cover or managing absence for parents sharing parental leave in small blocks is questionable.

However, this is just the government’s first step towards establishing a properly flexible system of shared parental leave that is forecast to be introduced in 2015 after rigorous consultations with the Demos think tank. Therefore, The HR Experts advise that in the meantime small businesses should promote a large single block of time off for parents (rather than lots of little ones), or adopt Clegg’s “use-it-or-lose-it” time off policy for new parents so that employers can plan for cover.

For more advice on this don’t hesitate to contact us at info@thehrexperts.co.uk!