Out-Law News 2 min. read

Government consults on shared parental leave plans


The amount of leave available to new parents could be increased under Government plans to create a new system of shared parental leave, a consultation has revealed.

The plans will reserve four weeks of parental leave for each parent, but will allow the mother and father to split the remainder between them and in a number of blocks.

The proposed changes would be introduced in April 2015 subject to "affordability", the consultation said (97 page / 624 KB PDF).

The Government is also seeking views on extending flexible working to all employees, introducing mandatory equal pay audits and changing the Working Time Regulations to deal with holidays for employees on sick leave.

The new scheme will retain mothers' existing 18 weeks' maternity leave entitlement around the time of the birth, along with current statutory maternity pay (SMP) and maternity allowance (MA).

Two weeks' ordinary paternity leave and pay for fathers will also be retained.

The remaining 34 weeks of existing maternity leave will be reclassified as parental leave, available to either parent on an equal basis, and a new system of statutory shared parental pay will be introduced to replace existing SMP and MA entitlements.

Four weeks' leave will be reserved exclusively for each parent, with the combined leave entitlement extended by four weeks so the mother can still take her full amount of 52 weeks' leave if she wishes.

Similar provisions will apply for adopters and same-sex couples.

"By increasing the flexibility of how parental leave can be taken, we will give parents the freedom to make arrangements that suit their families and allow a balance between work and family commitments, while also meeting their responsibilities to their employers," the consultation said.

The new system will replace additional paternity leave, which allows a father to take up to 26 weeks' leave if the mother of the child has returned to work. Additional paternity leave was introduced in April.

The Government is also seeking views on allowing employees to take parental leave on a part-time basis, or allowing employees to break parental leave into two or more shorter periods between which parents could return to work.

Employers will retain the right to demand the leave is taken in a continuous block "depending on business needs", the consultation said.

The existing right to take unpaid parental leave beyond the first year of a child's life will be incorporated into the new scheme, and the consultation also considers whether to extend the limit for taking unpaid leave beyond a child's fifth birthday.

The current right to request flexible working for parents of children under 17 or disabled children under 18 could also be extended to all employees who have been with their employer for 26 weeks or more.

Requests must be considered "reasonably" alongside a new statutory code of practice, the consultation said.

The Government also hopes to change the existing Working Time Regulations to take account of recent European court judgements around the interaction of annual leave with sick pay, maternity pay and parental leave.

The consultation also considers imposing a mandatory equal pay audit on employers who have been found by a tribunal to have discriminated because of gender in relation to pay. The results of any audit will need to be published, and sanctions for non-compliance will be introduced.

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