email to a friend | user comments
Published: 20 October 2005

Work and Families Bill

Trade and Industry Secretary, Alan Johnson, has announced that the Work and Families Bill aims to create a modern framework of employment rights & responsibilities for employers and employees, while minimising the impact on business.

Trade and Industry Secretary Alan Johnson said:
"To help mothers we will extend paid maternity leave to nine months with the aim of increasing it to a year.

Increasingly fathers want to play a more active role in bringing up their children, so we will help fathers take time off when the mother returns to work by introducing a new right to paternity leave.

And we will also help those who care for elderly or sick relatives by extending to them the right to request flexible working.

Our consultation showed broad support for our family friendly approach, but today's bill also includes a number of measures to make it easier for businesses to deal with employees taking time off to give their child the best start in life."

New measures in the bill and forthcoming regulations include:

  • extending Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance to nine months from April 2007 with the ambition of moving to a year by the end of the Parliament (including extending eligibility for additional maternity leave);

  • a power to introduce new paternity leave for fathers, enabling them to benefit from leave and statutory pay if the mother returns to work after six months but before the end of her maternity leave period;

  • extending the right to request flexible working to carers from April 2007

  • measures to help businesses manage the administration of Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay and Statutory Adoption Pay;

  • introducing keeping in touch days so that where employees and employers agree, a women on maternity leave can go into work for a few days, without losing her right to maternity leave or a week's statutory pay;

  • extending the period of notice for return from maternity leave to two months enabling employees and employers to more effectively plan for return to work;

  • making clear in the regulations that employers can make reasonable contact with their employees on maternity leave to help employers plan and ease the mother's return to work.

Other measures which will be subject to consultation in the bill are:

  • a power to increase the maximum weekly amount payable for compensation payments in redundancy, unfair dismissal and insolvency; and

  • an enabling power to prevent bank holidays from being included in annual leave entitlement.

Previous family friendly measures introduced by the Government include:

  • the extension of maternity pay from 18 to 26 weeks;

  • the extension and simplification of maternity leave from a maximum of 11 weeks prior to the date of birth and 29 weeks after, to a total of 52 weeks for most women;

  • a right to two weeks paid paternity leave;

  • a right to paid adoption leave, broadly comparable with maternity leave and pay;

  • a right to request flexible working for parents of children aged up to six years, or up to 18 years for children with disabilities; and

  • the introduction of 13 weeks unpaid parental leave for mothers and fathers

  • giving all employees the right to take time off work to deal with family emergencies

Submit your comments

To find a business you can trust, click on the related categories below: