New Family Friendly Proposals introduce flexibility

Following extensive consultation, the new Work and Families Bill has been published. The Bill provides new and additional rights for employees.

In the main, the proposals will introduce greater choice and flexibility where maternity leave is concerned by encouraging greater communication between employers and staff to allow more effective planning for the return to work. The proposals also include extensions to existing paternity leave rights and the right to request flexible working.

The proposals are:-

Statutory Maternity Pay, Maternity Allowance and Adoption Pay will all increase from 6 months to 9 months from April 2007, with the intention of moving to a year by the end of the current Parliament;

Extending the right to request flexible working to carers from April 2007;

To change the eligibility rules so that all women who qualify for Ordinary Maternity Leave also qualify for Additional Maternity Leave;

Introducing “keeping in touch” days so that, where employees and employers agree, a woman on maternity leave can go into work for a limited number of days, without losing her right to maternity leave or a week’s statutory pay;

Extending the period of notice for return from maternity leave from 28 days to 8 weeks, enabling employees and employers to more effectively plan for the return to work; and to apply an 8 weeks notice period to women who wish to extend their maternity leave;

Making clear in the regulations that employers can make reasonable contact with their employees at any stage on maternity leave to help employers plan and ease the mother’s return to work;

Making clear that if a mother gives her employer more than the required advance warning that she does not intend to work following her maternity leave, this cannot in itself result in her contract being terminated early and losing her right to accrue other entitlements.

Further proposals include the introduction of additional paternity leave for fathers, enabling them to benefit from a maximum of 26 weeks ‘additional paternity leave’ with statutory paternity pay at the flat rate for up to three months if the mother returns to work before taking her full entitlement to State Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance. Additional Paternity Leave would be in addition to the current paid paternity leave period of one or two weeks.

It is also proposed to introduce measures to help businesses manage the administration of Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay and Statutory Adoption Pay.

We will keep you informed of future developments regarding the Work and Families Bill.