Towards a new system of statutory maternity, paternity and parenting leave (Part 2)
Maternity Action
Provides info, advice & training on maternity rights in employment, benefits & access to healthcare & influences policy.
By Richard Dunstan, Public Affairs Officer
In our?previous post in this series, we noted a broad consensus that the Shared Parental Leave (SPL) scheme introduced in 2015 has failed – and will continue to fail – to deliver the desirable and evidently popular goal of more equal parenting. And we slew a few myths about the UK’s current system of parental leave more generally. In this post, we set out some key principles that should underpin the design of any new system.
If there is one thing that we have learnt from the failure of the SPL scheme since 2015, it is that a system that relies on mothers who are recovering from pregnancy and childbirth transferring their ‘unwanted’ paid leave to the father cannot deliver the goal of more equal parenting. Because, if the mother needs – or (not unreasonably) simply?wants?– to use most or all of her paid leave entitlement, there is little or no paid leave available to the father.
This ‘maternal transfer’ nature of the SPL scheme also makes it complex, not least because it necessarily involves not one but two employers, and as a result it is very poorly understood by both employers and parents. A constant complaint from employers is that employment law is too complex and difficult to administer, especially for smaller employers without a human resources specialist, and the SPL scheme is one of the worst examples. So, the first key principle for reform should be:
The new system must consist of individual and non-transferable – that is, ‘use it or lose it’ – rights to paid leave?for each parent. There should be no sharing or transferring of such leave from one parent to another. In the words of the Fatherhood Institute, any individual paid leave entitlement not taken by either parent should be “lost to the family”.
These new, individual rights and leave entitlements should reflect the different purposes of maternity, paternity and parenting leave. Because, as noted in the first post in this series, mothers’ and fathers’ experience of pregnancy and childbirth are very different. In short, maternity leave, reserved for the birth mother, is a health and safety measure that is simply not needed by fathers and other second parents.
Similarly, paternity leave is a health and safety measure aimed at enabling the father to support the mother at and immediately after the birth. Accordingly, it can be limited to a short period. The Fatherhood Institute suggests that two weeks is adequate, and indeed there is no evident popular demand for longer paternity leave?tied to the time of birth.
Parenting leave, however, is about?parenting. And both the research evidence and the experience of other countries indicate that providing periods of paid parenting leave for fathers – as opposed to more paternity leave tied to the time immediately after the child’s birth, when of course the birth mother is also off work – is more likely to incentivise men to take periods of solo leave for childcare reasons, and then to take a more equal part in parenting over the lifetime of the child. Furthermore, sharing the care of the child helps both parents to retain a strong link with the labour market.
So, the second key principle for reform should be:
领英推荐
The design of the new system must reflect the different purposes of maternity, paternity and parenting leave.
Clearly, any new scheme needs to be more father-inclusive – that is the principal point of reform, after all. But it must also protect the existing rights of women – hard-won over many decades – to 52 weeks of leave, including 39 weeks of?paid?leave. In the words of the TUC, “existing maternity rights and protections must not be diminished in any way.”
Indeed, as noted in our first post in this series, the TUC rightly suggests that “maternity rights must be enhanced”. Because the UK’s 39 weeks of paid maternity leave is short by international standards: the OECD and EU averages are 51 weeks and 63.5 weeks respectively. The truth is, both mothers?and?fathers are short-changed by our current system of parenting leave. So, the third key principle for reform should be:
The new system must deliver a?significant?new entitlement to?parenting?leave for fathers (and other second parents), while protecting and ideally enhancing the existing statutory rights of mothers to 52 weeks of leave, including 39 weeks of?paid?leave, and the associated legal protections.
In addition, all leave must be (much) better paid and available to?all?workers from Day One.?Just this month, an important new report by the Fabians Society,?In Time of Need, has highlighted how the UK’s?average income replacement rate for maternity leave is the third lowest in the OECD: “Almost every other European country pays an earnings-related maternity (or parental) payment for most or all of the duration of statutory leave [and] replacement rates are high, almost always falling between 75% and 100% of earnings”. But the UK’s earnings replacement rate is just 29.5%.
Furthermore, the new system should be as simple and flexible as possible (e.g. parenting leave should be available to be taken in blocks, as SPL is now). And parental leave reform must be part of a broader package of governmental action to increase the supply of affordable childcare, enable a shift to a ‘flexible by default’ approach to job design and recruitment, and introduce rights to breastfeeding breaks and facilities at work. And political and business leaders must work together to drive a change in parenting culture in the workplace.
These principles for reform imply a new parental leave system consisting of:
In the final post in this series, we’ll look at?how long?each of these paid leave entitlements should be, and the rate at which they should be paid.