SO, WHAT’S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT MATERNITY PAY…?

Kemi Badenoch, one of the Conservative Party leader hopefuls, has caused something of a media storm this week – not to mention discord amongst the Tories themselves – by commenting on maternity pay being “excessive”. She has claimed that her quotes were taken out of context, but has since appeared to have ‘doubled down’, this time suggesting that the minimum wage is harming business… whatever your thoughts, it seems that now is a good time to look at maternity pay plus parental leave…

First up, the facts: Is maternity pay excessive and how much does it cost the taxpayer? asks The Guardian. The fact-check style piece answers those questions, but also looks at how the UK compares with other countries when it comes to maternity pay (tl:dr the UK Government pays less than those in other countries, but the length of paid leave here is longer); whether businesses are complaining about maternity pay (not according to the British Chamber of Commerce); whether cutting maternity pay would affect birthrates (possibly) and more. Discover all the answers here - https://shorturl.at/pM3RK

If you’re interested, the inews site takes a more indepth look at how UK maternity pay compares with Europe and the US here - https://shorturl.at/k6hOi

LBC has published a viewpoint from one woman business owner – Katie Guild, Co-Founder of Nugget Savings - who clearly disagrees with Kemi Badenoch. ‘At 47% of the national minimum wage, how maternity pay is ‘excessive’ is truly beyond me’, she says. And, interestingly, she makes the point that the low rate of Statutory Maternity Pay makes things more difficult for businesses: “I would argue that because statutory maternity pay is so poor, it puts MORE pressure on businesses because they feel obliged to pay a rate above SMP so their employees can actually afford life.” You can read more of her thoughts here - https://shorturl.at/5R0hN

From pay to leave – and, as this article from Start-Ups.co.uk highlights, offering enhanced maternity leave can help employers to attract and retain the best talent. The article also looks at some of the companies offering the best enhanced maternity leave in the UK, with the list including the likes of NatWest, Google, TfL and John Lewis. In addition, the piece sums up with some advice on how to create good maternity, paternity and shared leave policies. You can find it all here - https://shorturl.at/vzIUN

Yet, sadly just 45% of the UK’s top employers offer their staff equal amounts of fully paid parental leave, regardless of gender, according to Personnel Today: “Released to coincide with the launch of the Inspiring Dads Parental Leave Database [on September 30th], the research found that 55% offered non-equal policies. Further analysis by the Fatherhood Institute showed the average length of leave for mothers at 22.7 weeks, compared to just 4.9 weeks for fathers.” There are plenty more numbers to crunch and analysis to consider here - https://shorturl.at/NiEvw

Finally, as well as providing new mothers and fathers with the chance to bond with their new babies, and adjust to their new lives as parents, more equal parental leave could also help shrink the gender pay gap. That’s according to George Gabriel, Co-Founder of the Dad Shift and Founder of Safe Passage, who has written an opinion piece for The Guardian. He says that the situation with paternity leave and pay is so bad in the UK that one in three new fathers takes no leave at all. And regarding the impact the situation is having one women too, he points out: “It is a bitter irony that the gender pay gap itself prevents many men from taking paternity leave, because the damper put on women’s careers by becoming mothers is one of the gap’s major drivers. In other words, paternity leave is part of how we shrink the pay gap, and shrinking the pay gap would make it more affordable for fathers and co-parents to take paternity leave.” It’s a really interesting read - https://shorturl.at/8JvRm

What are your thoughts? Is maternity pay ‘excessive’? Should more fathers be offered the opportunity to take paternity leave? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic!

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash