Yesterday Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg unveiled plans to overhaul the family-friendly system of employment leave and enable women to share maternity leave with their partners.
Mr Clegg said that from 2015, parents will be given the right to share the care of their child in the first year after birth. Women in employment will retain their right to 52 weeks of maternity leave. Only mothers will be allowed to take leave in the first two weeks’ leave after birth, but after that parents can divide up the rest of the time.
Diversity in the workplace campaigners have welcomed the proposed changes, although some have warned that the success of the reforms would depend upon effective implementation, and businesses working to prevent flexible working becoming a new form of segregation.
Mr Clegg said that he found it remarkable that the UK has persisted for so long with such outdated rules and is looking forward to bringing the parental leave rules into the 21st century.
Speaking at a centre for parents and childcare in Putney, London, the Deputy Prime Minister confessed that he had considered extending paternity leave from the current two weeks but had listened to concerns from Government and business groups about the cost, given the current economic climate. However, he said that the flexible leave rules would be reviewed by 2018.
Under the reform adoptive parents will also become eligible for full flexible leave. Currently, they are only entitled to maternity and paternity leave if they have held their current job position for six months or more. From 2015, like biological parents, they are entitled to flexible leave from the first day of employment. Grandparents will also be able to apply for flexible working to help look after grandchildren.