Paternity andadoption leave
Paternity andadoption pay
1. UNIFI is a TUC-affiliated unionrepresenting some 160,000 workers across the finance sector. The union represents staff in all grades andoccupations, not only in the major English and Scottish banks, but also ininvestment banks, the Bank of England, insurance companies, building societies,finance houses and business services companies.
2. We welcome the opportunity to commenton the recent Government consultation on maternity, paternity and adoptionleave. The new legislation will lead toimprovements in maternity leave and pay. Additionally, the introduction of thenew rights to paternity and adoption leave and pay bring in new legislationwhich will help in improving work-life balance for some parents.
3. Although UNIFI supports the new andamended legislation which will improve choice for parents we are concernedthat many parents will not be able to afford to take advantage of much of thenew regulations. Those who will benefit the most will be highly paid workersleaving little choice for the lower paid.Therefore, we would urge the Government to consider full earningsrelated pay for the first 26 weeks of maternity and adoption leave and the samefor the full period of paternity and parental leave.
Paternity leave and pay
4.1 UNIFI welcomes that the Government hasagreed to extend the period in which paternity leave can be taken in thespecial circumstances of premature birth.This will allow fathers in this situation to take time off when theirpartner and child return home.
4.2 The suggestion that paternity leaveand pay should be available in two separate one-week periods is an improvementon having to take the leave in one single block. However, we feel that this still remains too inflexible and thatthere should be a right to take the leave in days. We do not agree that this would be overly burdensome for businessas in total the leave is of such a short period.
4.3 We are concerned that the rate ofstatutory paternity pay will result in a low take-up by fathers. This rate will not be a substitute for twoweeks full pay at a time when partners are about to take a drop in income andincrease in expenses due to the birth of a baby. We would support the rate of 90% of weekly earnings for thetwo-week period of paternity leave which would result in most fathers takingadvantage of this new right. If theGovernment does not support this then we feel that it will be necessary toreview the take-up of paternity leave after two years with a view to increasingthe payment if the figure is low.
Adoption leave and pay
5.1 The introduction of adoption leave andpay will provide adoptive parents with the choice of taking leave allowingextra time for the adoptive child and an opportunity for the whole family toadjust to changed circumstances.
5.2 We would support that adoption leaveand pay should be available for 8 weeks following the termination of a childsplacement which will allow time for the adoptive parent to come to terms withthe disappointment and grief at the ending of the placement.
5.3 Although, the leave of 26 weeksordinary adoption leave and 26 weeks additional adoption leave is to becommended we feel that six weeks earnings related pay is not enough. We would advocate that earnings related payshould be paid for the whole period ofordinary adoption leave with the flat rate of statutory adoption pay forthe remaining leave. Without this manyadoptive parents will have to return to work earlier than they would have likedfor financial reasons.
Parental leave
6.1 We are disappointed that theGovernment intends to harmonise notification periods for those wishing to exercisevarious parental rights to 28 days. Webelieve that many parents will plan for parental leave and give employersnotice in advance of 21 days, but this shorter period gives employees theoption to taking leave for unforeseen events if required. Therefore, we would support harmonising ofnotification periods at 21 days to provide more flexibility for employees.
6.2 Encouraging the use of parental leaveis a high priority to bring about improvements in work-life balance. However, recent research shows that parentalleave is rarely used and that very few employers only around a fifth inrecent research operate provisions other than the statutory fallback scheme.[1] We would suggest that this low take-uprelates to the fact that neither pay, nor flexibility are included. Earnings related paid parental leave wouldencourage fathers as well as mothers to take their leave and take more part insharing child-care with their partners.
6.3 The requirement for flexibility intaking the leave is also important. Currentlyparents, other than parents with disabled children, are only allowed to takeparental leave in blocks of a week.This does not allow for the need to take one day, e.g. the first day ofschool, hospital appointments.Alternatively, parents may wish to use leave to shorten the working weekover a period of time. We would supportan amendment to the legislation allowing parents to take parental leave overperiods of less than a week.
6.4 The fall-back scheme also restrictsparental leave to a maximum of four weeks in any one year. Within the finance sector very few employershave improved on the fall-back scheme.We would argue that parents should be allowed to take leave up to thefull 13 weeks in a year. This couldallow an extension to maternity leave and for fathers to stay at home for alonger period when their partner returns to work after maternity leave. There are other periods when longer leavecould be useful such as settling a child into nursery or school.
6.5 Parental leave in the UK is restrictedto the period before a child is five years old, apart from parents of disabledchildren and those that are adopting.This is less than recommended by the Parental Leave Directive of 8years. Childcare often becomes moreproblematic when a child starts school due to lack of after-school clubs andchild-minders. Many parents would wishto take advantage of parental leave during the early school years, but areprevented from doing so by the cut off point of 5 years. We feel that this restriction should belifted and increased to 8 years at the very minimum with a strong argument thatit should allowed for all parents with dependent children of any age.
Maternity leave and pay
7.1 We welcome the extension of bothmaternity leave and pay which will allow more choice for some mothers to spendadditional time with their child.However, six weeks earnings related pay is not enough. Without earnings related SMP, longer leavewill be an unrealistic proposition for many women they simply will not beable to afford to take the time off work.We believe that 26 weeks earnings related pay, followed by 26 weeks atthe lower statutory rate, would allow more women to take the benefit of ayears maternity leave. We realise thatthis will add more to public expenditure, but family life would benefit andmore babies would get a better start in life.In the longer term this will benefit the economy and reduce the expensein DSS benefits and the NHS.
7.2 Additionally, we wouldadvocate that after maternity leave women should
have theright to return part-time to their job, or one on the same terms and conditionsof employment. Women would also benefitif they could return part-time for a period with a view to returning tofull-time employment in the longer term.
7.3 In any event, if the suggested changesare not forthcoming, then as with paternity leave, we would recommend that theGovernment reviews the take-up of the new maternity leave arrangements within 2years of implementation.
Overarching issues
Relationship to child andmother or adopter
8.0 We welcome that the Government will beextending the right to paternity leave slightly wider than the biologicalfather of a child, e.g. to include a womans new partner, who will be parentingthe child and partners of an individual who is adopting a child. However, we believe all parental rightsshould be extended to same sex partners, particularly with the new legislationcoming in next year on sexual orientation.
Consecutive periods ofleave
9.0 We would support that where lengthyperiods of consecutive leave are taken that it may not be possible for anemployee to return to the same job and the same rights should apply asreturning from additional maternity leave.
Conclusion
10.0 As previously stated UNIFI welcomesthe improvements in legal rights for parents.However, without earnings related pay, many employees will not be ableto take advantage of these new rights particularly the low paid. Therefore, we would urge the Government togive serious consideration to the suggestions that we have made in relation topaid leave. In any event, we would askthat the Government reviews the take-up of all forms of parental leave aftertwo years of implementation. This isvital, as the legislation cannot be seen to succeed where very few employeesare able to take advantage of their rights, as is the case with parental leave.
We wouldwelcome the opportunity to discuss the issues further at any level. Our contact details are as follows:-
Karen Cole Tel:0117 9293724
ResearchOfficer E:karen.cole@unifi.org.uk
South andWest Regional Office
6thFloor
Tower House
Bristol BS1 3BN