Corporate Focus - November 2009
Split “maternity”
Parents to share ‘maternity’
leave
The Government recently announced plans to
offer new maternity rights to fathers in order to give parents more
flexibility and choice in taking time off work to care for their
new born child. The changes will give mothers the option to
transfer their last six months of maternity leave to the father,
with three months being paid at the existing statutory maternity
pay rate.
With Labour keen to demonstrate its family
friendly credentials ahead of a general election, the Government
intends that the law will be in force by April 2010 and will be
effective for parents of children due on or after 3 April 2011 to
allow employers time to adjust to the measures.
Under current legislation, fathers can claim
up to two weeks’ paid leave, for up to eight weeks after the child
is born, however the new proposed plans would allow mothers to
return to work after six months, and allow fathers to then stay at
home with their child. This would enable fathers to take up
to 26 weeks’ additional paternity leave, some of which can be paid
if the mother of the child has returned to work.
This may be seen as good news for parents, but
what about the implications that this will have for employers?
As regards administering the new system,
parents will be required to ‘self certify’ by providing details of
their eligibility to their employer. Many observers have raised
concerns that this will leave the system open to abuse, however the
Government has assured employers that they, alongside HMRC, will
both be able to carry out further checks on entitlement if
necessary. However, business groups say that the plan will
place a greater burden on already struggling employers who fear
that they will face increased administrative difficulties as well
as potentially increased costs. There are clear concerns as to the
adverse impact that this could have on the economy at an extremely
challenging time and the recession taking time to pass.
We have to wait to see over the coming months
whether these proposals do actually become law and ultimately if
they do, what level of take up there is from employees.
Please contact Jane Hobson in our
Employment team on 0121 200 3474 for further guidance on split
maternity.