Shared Parental Leave evaluation: The Government’s response

By Ros Bragg, Director

Blog 5 of 5.

The Government’s evaluation of the Shared Parental Leave identified a number of problems with the scheme, including extremely low take-up rates.?The Government’s recommendations for change are very limited, focusing on minor changes to Paternity Leave.

The evaluation of Shared Parental Leave exposed serious problems with the scheme.??Take-up?is low, probably less than 2% of all working fathers.??Those taking Shared Parental Leave?are overwhelmingly older, highly qualified, higher paid fathers who are entitled to contractual pay.?Key factors?affecting take-up are financial, with the very low rates of statutory pay acting as a barrier for many families, the complexity of the scheme, the ‘shared’ rather than individual entitlements and unsupportive workplace culture.

The evaluation failed to investigate the?health impacts?of Shared Parental Leave, resulting in significant gaps in the evidence base.?It remains unclear if the Shared Parental Leaves scheme had an impact on the physical and mental health of mothers or otherwise impacted on parents and babies.?It also remains unclear how women’s physical recovery from the birth influenced decisions about take-up and timing of leave, or if mental health concerns played any role.?Despite research suggesting that breastfeeding concerns affected take-up of Shared Parental Leave, the evaluation did not consider either the impact of Shared Parental Leave on breastfeeding decisions or the impacts of breastfeeding concerns on parents’ decisions about leave.

The evaluation report is sufficient to point to the need for change, however there are no recommendations in the evaluation report.?The Government’s proposals for action are contained in a separate paper,?Good Work Plan: Proposals to Support Families. This document is the Government response to the 2019 consultation on options for reforming parental leave and pay, released four years after the consultation closed. The sole proposed action on parental leave and pay is to enable fathers and second parents to take Paternity Leave in two blocks of a week and to take this leave at any point in the child’s first year.?The document also re-announces an online tool, released in 2021, to assist parents and employers to access Shared Parental Leave.

The evaluation report did not point to any need for greater flexibility in Paternity Leave and there is little evidence of other stakeholders calling for this.?While this flexibility may be of use to a small number of fathers and second parents, it does not address any of the fundamental problems with Shared Parental Leave.?The response is profoundly disappointing.

Maternity Action has proposed an?alternative approach?to reform of maternity, paternity and parental leave which is based on individual rights, extends eligibility to all working parents and which offers a staged approach to overcoming the financial barriers to taking leave.

Maternity Action has prepared a?briefing?analysing?the Shared Parental Leave evaluation.?This is the final blog in a series on the evaluation.

Read blog 1 in this series ‘Shared Parental Leave evaluation: What is the take-up of Shared Parental Leave?‘.

Read blog 2 in this series ‘Shared Parental Leave evaluation: Who is taking Shared Parental Leave?’.

Read blog 3 in this series ‘Shared Parental Leave evaluation: What are the barriers and enablers for taking leave?‘.

Read blog 4 in this series ‘Shared Parental Leave evaluation: What are the health impacts of Shared Parental Leave?‘.