UK: Family Friendly Parental Leave System

Authors: Stephen Miller and Corinna Harris

The Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) has published a report on the statutory parental leave system.

The WEC’s Equality at work: Paternity and shared parental leave report calls for increased statutory leave and pay levels and warns that the current provision for fathers “entrenches outdated gender stereotypes about caring and harms fathers, mothers and families”.

The WEC’s recommendations include:

• Increasing statutory pay:
  • Increase statutory paternity pay to the level of maternity pay in the first six weeks (i.e. 90% of average earnings)
  • In the longer-term, phased increases to statutory pay across the system to reach at least 80% of average earnings
  • Introduce a paternity allowance equivalent to maternity allowance for self-employed fathers
• Extending paternity leave:
  • Incrementally increase the period of paid statutory paternity leave to six weeks over the course of this Parliament
  • Ensure maximum flexibility in how leave can be taken in the first year after a baby’s birth or adoption
• Reforming shared parental leave (SPL)
  • Simplify or remove the complex eligibility criteria for SPL
  • Consider financial incentives to increase take up of SPL, such as additional paid leave to couples in which both parents take a substantial portion of leave
• Supporting kinship carers and single parents
  • Include kinship carers (typically family members or friends who step in to care for children) in the paid parental leave system, similar to adoption leave and pay
  • Allow single parents to reallocate some or all of the entitlements of co-parents to nominated family friends or relatives
• Addressing multiple births
  • Consider providing extra paid leave for parents of multiple births, drawing on lessons from overseas systems

Key Action Points for Human Resources and In-house Counsel

The WEC’s recommendations aim to create a more equitable and supportive parental leave system which addresses the needs of diverse family structures and promotes gender equality to benefit mothers, fathers and families.

In addition to confirming in the Next Steps to Make Work Pay White Paper its intention to carry out a full review of the parental leave system, the government’s general election manifesto included a commitment to review the parental leave system within its first year in government (i.e. by early July 2025). The WEC expects this review to lay the foundation for progress in the key areas identified in its report over the course of this Parliament and in the longer term.