Parental leave and pay: Supporting parents and achieving equality
Overview
This section explores the objectives of Parental Leave and Pay; how Government policy supports parents and employers; the factors which enable parents to combine work and childcare and the impact of each of these factors; and looks at high level options for reforming parental leave and pay.
Below is useful information on what changes we could make and the trade-offs these may bring.
Parental leave factors which support parents to combine work with childcare responsibilities
There are a range of variables which could potentially be leveraged:
- The length of leave and when it can be taken (e.g. only in the first year or over the lifetime of the child);
- The rate of pay (which can vary over the leave period);
- Whether leave is transferrable between parents or given on a ‘use it or lose it’ basis;
- Whether the parental leave can be taken flexibly (e.g. in days or half-days; in blocks separated by periods at work; and whether it can be stopped and re-started);
- Who the leave and pay applies to (e.g. just employees or all working parents); and
- Whether parents can take time off work together, sequentially or both.
Making the right trade-offs and choices to support families
Reforming one or more parental leave and pay policies may necessitate trade-offs around:
- How entitlements to leave and/or pay are split between parents;
- Balancing flexibility and choice for families and incentivising parental behaviours (e.g. solo childcare by fathers);
- Creating more rules and incentives to determine how leave is taken and shared, versus simplicity for parents to navigate the system and make choices;
- Giving parents the flexibility to take leave when it suits them and giving their employers and co-workers certainty;
- How the costs of parental leave and pay are shared between families, employers and the Government;
- How much support is provided at the time of the birth versus giving parents opportunities to take parental leave when their child is older;
- How support is distributed across families – and whether the generosity of support should vary according to a family’s income;
- How the costs are distributed across types of employers – including, the relative support provided to SMEs and large employers;
- How employers who provide enhanced contractual leave and pay would respond to Government enhancing family-related statutory pay (e.g. would they extend the period of contractual leave and pay or re-cycle the savings?); and
- The level of support offered to families with different characteristics.
The full consultation document can be found below
Audiences
- SMEs (small and medium businesses)
- Large businesses (over 250 staff)
- Trade bodies
- Legal representative
- Medium business (50 to 250 staff)
- Micro business (up to 9 staff)
- Trade union or staff association
- Employment lawyers
- Employment advisers
- Businesses
- Individual employees
- HR professionals
- HR organisations
- Parents
- General public
- Charities
- Local government
- Charity or social enterprise
- Central government
- Individual
- Non-departmental public bodies
- The Devolved Administrations
- Charities and Third Sector organisations
- Non-Government Organisations
- Civil Society Organisations
Interests
- Workplace rights
- Shared parental leave
- Flexible working