Government plans to improve paternity and maternity provisions

FAMILY-FRIENDLY BENEFITS

Government plans to improve paternity and maternity provisions

Working mothers are to be offered an extra three months' paid maternity leave, worth almost £1,400, under plans in a consultation document published 28 February 2005 by trade and industry secretary Patricia Hewitt.

The consultation includes proposals to:

• Extend maternity pay and adoption pay from six months to nine months by April 2007 with the goal of a year's paid leave by the end of the next Parliament.
• Introduce a new right for mothers to transfer a proportion of their maternity leave and pay to fathers to give more choice to mothers and fathers when caring for their children in the first year.
• Consider extending the right to request flexible working hours to carers of adults and parents of older children.
• Help employers -- particularly small businesses -- by giving them greater certainty about when employees are returning to work.
• Simplify the administration of maternity leave and pay for employers, including whether the government should pay parents direct through the Inland Revenue.

Want to know more?

The press release is available on the Department of Trade and Industry web site at www.gnn.gov.uk/environment/detail.asp?ReleaseID=148606& NewsAreaID=2& NavigatedFromDepartment=False

The government's Consultation paper Work and Families: Choice and flexibility is available at www.dti.gov.uk/workandfamilies.

The consultation seeks the views of all interested parties, parents, employees, unions, employers and their representatives. The closing date for responses is 25 May 2005.

Posted 4 March 2005