Government’s review must address ‘fundamental failings’ in UK’s parental leave system, WEC warns

The existing “broken” parental leave system has “fundamental failings”, which the Government's proposed ‘full review' must address head on, a new report by the Women and Equalities Committee has warned.

Working parents “will be let down by a review that leads only to tinkering around the edges of the system” WEC's Equality at work: Paternity and shared parental leave report said, as it called on ministers to commit to “meaningful” reform that grasps the “scale of the task”.

WEC's assessment detailed a litany of shortcomings including “damaging” low statutory pay across the board, inadequate leave periods for fathers and other parents, the exclusion of many working parents and guardians, as well as design flaws and unnecessary complexity in the shared parental leave (SPL) scheme.  

The UK's rate of statutory parental pay is completely out of kilter with the cost of living, has not kept pace with inflation and is far below rates in most comparable countries, the report found. It called on the Government to consider raising paternity pay to the level of maternity pay in the first six weeks i.e. 90% of average earnings during this Parliament. It also recommended phased introduction of increases to statutory pay across the system in the longer term, to bring rates for all working parents up to a very substantial proportion (80% or more) of average earnings or the real Living Wage. 

On paternity leave, WEC urged the Government to either amend the Employment Rights Bill to legislate for a day one right to paid leave or at least commit to considering this vital change within its review, in consultation with employers. The UK, WEC warned, has “one of the worst leave offers in the developed world for fathers and other parents”, adding that a maximum of two weeks' paternity leave is “completely out of step with how most couples want to share their parenting responsibilities” and “entrenches outdated gender stereotypes about caring”.

Addressing the stark gendered disparity in the UK's statutory leave periods should be considered fundamental to fixing our broken system and a key priority of the forthcoming review, it added. WEC called on the Government to consider incrementally increasing the period of paid paternity leave, drawing on lessons from overseas reform programmes such as in Spain. It should set out a pathway to raising paid statutory paternity leave to six weeks over the course of this Parliament.

Lack of provision for self-employed fathers is “deeply unfair” and must be addressed WEC said. It recommended the Government consider options for providing statutory paid leave for all self-employed and non-employee working fathers as part of its review of the parental leave system, including introducing a Paternity Allowance for self-employed fathers and other parents, similar to Maternity Allowance.  

The review must consider steps Government can take to reduce wider cultural and societal barriers to fathers taking more leave, WEC added, including considering the evidence on the effectiveness of initiatives such as the National Children's Bureau's A Better Start partnerships in supporting men to take a greater role. 

On Shared Parental Leave (SPL), the report called on the Government to address its flaws, increase take up and widen access. WEC found that the system was “extremely difficult for most parents and their employers to understand”. The report said the forthcoming review must examine the function and necessity of SPL's complex eligibility rules, with a view to simplifying or removing the employment status, time in service and earnings criteria. The objective for reforms of SPL must be to widen access to as broad a range of working parents as possible, including the self-employed and those on lower incomes.

The review, WEC said, should examine approaches taken in overseas systems, including the German "partnership bonus" and Portugal's "sharing bonus", which provide additional paid leave to couples in which both parents take a substantial portion of leave while the other returns to paid work. It should also consider the needs of kinship carers, with a view to including them in the paid parental leave system, as well as addressing inequality for single parent families and parents of multiple births.

Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee and Labour MP Sarah Owen said: “It's clear from the evidence in our Committee's report that the UK's parental leave system is in urgent need of an overhaul to fit with the reality of working parents' lives. This must start with longer and better paid paternity leave.   

“It's essential the Government's proposed review addresses the system's fundamental failings, including low statutory pay, inadequate leave periods for fathers and others, exclusion of many working parents and guardians, plus design flaws and unnecessary complexity in the Shared Parental Leave scheme.  

“The UK's parental leave system has fallen far behind most comparable countries, and we now have one of the worst statutory leave offers for fathers and other parents in the developed world. Countries which provide a substantial period of well-paid leave for all parents have on average a four-percentage point smaller gender pay gap than those that allow less than six weeks. 

“Ministers must commit to meaningful reforms in the medium term, with a view to going further towards a more gender equal parental leave system. Tinkering around the edges of a broken system will let down working parents. While much-needed substantial change to our paid parental leave system will require considerable financial investment, this would be outweighed by wider societal and economic benefits.”