The Government's parental leave review must overhaul the UK's
“broken” system as “tinkering around the edges” will “let down”
working families, the Women and Equalities Committee has warned.
Publishing the Government's response today (Friday, 19 September)
to WEC's June report ‘Equality at
work: Paternity and shared parental leave', the cross-party
Committee of MPs, welcomed the review announced in July, but
cautioned it must address head on the existing system's
“fundamental failings”.
WEC's report concluded the UK 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responsibilities” and “entrenches outdated gender stereotypes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”.
In its response the Government said: “We know that the parental
leave system needs improvement, and that more can be done to
better support working families in the important time after a
child is born. We have already made a start on improving our
leave offering for dads; the Employment Rights Bill will make
Paternity and Unpaid Parental Leave ‘day one' rights. This means
that dads will be able to give notice from their first day in a
new job of their intention to take this leave. This will come
into force April 2026…
“However, the government recognises that more can be done. In the
Plan to Make Work Pay the government committed to a Review of the
parental leave system. This review launched on 1 July and will
explore how the system can better support working families and
reflect the realities of modern work and childcare, while still
balancing the needs of businesses, and the Exchequer. The review
presents a much-needed opportunity to consider our approach to
the system of parental leave and pay. All current and upcoming
parental leave and pay entitlements will be in scope.”
It added: “The review's published terms of reference propose
objectives for the parental leave and pay system, including
improving both women's labour market outcomes and reducing the
gender pay gap, and ‘motherhood penalty'. We expect the review to
run for a period of 18 months, and it will conclude with a set of
findings and a roadmap, including next steps for taking any
potential action.”
WEC expressed disappointment the Government's response omitted no
definite commitment to longer, better paid paternity during this
Parliament, while emphasising the central importance of reform to
gender equality, addressing the motherhood penalty, and the
evidence of likely economic benefits over the medium and longer
term.
WEC's report 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.
Lack of provision for self-employed fathers is
“deeply unfair” and must be addressed it said, recommending
Ministers 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.
In its response the Government said: “The government recognises
the recommendations in relation to self-employed parents…Fairness
and equality will be, amongst others, a cross-cutting
consideration of the review, including the consideration of
building a fair system between parents of different employment
statuses.”
It added: “The review will expand our existing evidence base to
understand what is and what is not working well for families and
employers and consider opportunities for simplifying the system.
The review represents an opportunity to reset our approach to
parental leave and pay and what we want the system to achieve; a
consideration of Shared Parental Leave will be key to this. This
will include looking at international models, such as those
highlighted by the committee, and drawing on stakeholder
expertise to form recommendations and a roadmap of any proposed
reforms.”
Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee and Labour MP
said: “While the
Women and Equalities Committee welcomes the Government's
announced review of the UK's parental leave system just weeks
after our published report - as well as Ministers' commitment to
engage during the process - this must be a watershed moment for
working families which leads to far reaching
improvements.
“WEC's report warned tinkering around the edges of a
broken system will let down working parents. As the Government
pursues its economic growth agenda, the UK cannot afford to
continue with a parental leave system which has fallen far behind
most comparable countries and has one of the worst statutory
leave offers for fathers and other parents in the developed
world.
“It is disappointing there is no definite commitment in the
Government's response to longer, better paid paternity leave
during this Parliament, as change is much needed and long
overdue. As our report showed, an increasing number of larger
businesses are implementing gender equal parental leave, and some
who have been doing this for years are convinced of the business
benefits, through employee engagement, retention, and lower
recruitment costs.
“The forthcoming review must address the “fundamental
failings” in the existing system, improve gender equality, tackle
the motherhood penalty, and act on the strong evidence of the
economic and societal benefits in the medium and longer term of
Government investment. WEC will closely examine the review's
findings and next steps and keep up the pressure for
change.”
