As the second stage of measures by the government to implement the Good Work Plan in response to the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices, views are being sought on family leave and pay. What do you need to know?
- There are proposals to reform the current maternity, paternity, shared parental leave and unpaid parental leave systems, possibly with a move towards a single model for family related leave of ‘transferable’ and ‘non-transferable’ leave.
- There is a proposal to introduce neonatal leave and pay. This would be available to parents whose child is required to spend a minimum of two continuous weeks in neonatal care after birth and would have no qualifying period for parents wishing to take the leave. Parents would be entitled to one week of neonatal leave and pay for each week that their child is required to be in neonatal care up to a maximum to be decided, and the leave would be in addition to existing family leave rights.
- There is a proposal that employers with more than 250 employees should be required to publish their family related leave and pay policies and flexible working policies on their website (and potentially also on the Gender Pay Gap Reporting Portal) to increase transparency.
- Finally, the consultation asks whether job adverts should indicate whether a job could be worked flexibly and if so whether this should also be recorded on the Gender Pay Gap Reporting Portal – again to increase transparency.
Consultation closes on 11th October 2019. We will keep you updated!