The government is urged to review parental leave in its entirety

Academics have joined forces with unions and charities to urge the government to conduct a comprehensive review on parental leave. This includes maternity, paternity, and shared parental leaves, as well as how to manage and structure time off and pay.

In a letter addressed to Justin Madders the employment minister, 18 organizations and 15 academics have called for changes in parental leave.

The letter was coordinated by the charity Working Families and signed by the TUC, Save the Children Pregnant then Screwed, The Dad Shift and others.

The paper argues for nine principles that should guide future parental leave reform.

• In other countries, it has been proven that gender inequality can be reduced by giving parents a right to individual time off and pay.
• Maternity leave helps mothers recover after childbirth and to establish breastfeeding. Employers should also provide adequate support to breastfeeding.
• Incentives should be offered to fathers and partners who are caring for an infant. This will help to establish the father’s role as a caregiver for children.
• Parents and employers must both be able to easily understand the system, while also allowing flexibility. This includes time off together for parents if they so choose.
• All parents, including those who are classified as employees and self-employed, should have the right to time off and pay from day one.
• To ensure that all families can afford to take leave, the statutory leave and pay levels need to be increased.
• Parents should be protected from discrimination and have the right to return back to their jobs after taking a leave.
• The future reform of the system should not be at the expense or existing parental rights.
• Parents’ leave policies and pay should be aligned with a flexible and part-time UK labour market, a childcare system that is more affordable and available and that pays parents from the moment they return to work and a healthcare system that recognizes and values both parents.

Labour promised in its election campaign that it would review parental leave arrangements within the first year after a Labour Government.

Working Families argued that while a formal announcement has yet to be made by the government, it is likely to happen in early July.

Two of the academics that signed the letter, Professor Eleonora Fichera and Dr Joanna Clifton Sprigg from Bath University’s Department of Economics have argued in their research that the shared parental leave policy failed to benefit fathers.

According to the study by the Institute for Policy Research which analyzed data from 40,000 UK households, shared parental leave did not affect the number of fathers who took leave or the length they chose.

Dr Clifton Sprigg stated: “A better policy would earmark some time for fathers and be generously compensated. It should also have less restrictive criteria in order to include more working parents.”

Jane van Zyl is the chief executive of Working Families. She added, “A rethinking of the statutory offer to new parents has been long overdue in order to help mothers and fathers manage the transition after a baby’s arrival.” Fathers are now more interested in playing an active part and, if we want to achieve gender parity, they need to be included from the start.

“Sadly, the statutory rights have not kept up with these changes in attitudes. She said that reform is needed urgently to ensure that families, especially those without financial security, don’t have to return to work too early and can spend equal time with their children in this crucial first year.

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