GOOD NEWS FOR PARENTS TO BE

On October 19th 2005 the government published the Work and Families Bill, which proposes extending the rights of working parents.

The aim of the Work and Families Bill is to help working parents balance the demands of their jobs with caring for their children. The following changes to the existing law are contained within the Bill:

• Mothers will be entitled to nine months statutory maternity pay from April 2007 (as opposed to the current six).
• Where the mother chooses to return to work after six months maternity leave she will be able to transfer the remainder of her leave and pay entitlements to the child’s father who will be able to take paternity leave and receive statutory paternity pay for this period.
• "Keeping in touch days” will be introduced so that, where employers and employees agree, a woman on maternity leave can go into work for a few days without losing her right to maternity leave or statutory maternity pay.
• The period of notice for returning early from maternity leave will be extended from 18 days to 8 weeks to allow for employers to plan their workload requirements.
• The draft legislation will also extend the right to request flexible working to employees who are carers of dependent adults, e.g. sick or elderly relatives. This is due to come in to force from April 2007.

Although employees will have to wait some 18 months for the above changes to come in, prospective parents will be pleased to know that if they plan to have or adopt a child or are expecting a baby that will be born after April 2006, the standard rate of statutory maternity pay, statutory paternity pay and adoption pay will increase from £106.00 per week to £108.85 per week with effect from then.

If you would like any further information about your rights to take maternity or paternity leave or some guidance as an employer on how to manage these issues, then please contact Suzanne Brookes on 01271 324 273 or by email suzannebrookes@ppwbar.co.uk.

The contents of this article are intended for general information purposes only and shall not be deemed to be, or constitute legal advice. We cannot accept responsibility for any loss as a result of acts or omissions taken in respect of this article.