Giving with one hand, taking with the other

Lousie Nousratpour
Friday January 28, 2011
The Morning Star

Nick Clegg has promised to reform the current "Edwardian" system of parental leave to give fathers more rights and lighten the burden on mothers.

Clegg is right to say that the existing system is inflexible and "paltry," but the Deputy Prime Minister's own proposals are equally pathetic and will not be introduced until 2015 - assuming the shaky coalition survives.

He announced earlier this month that the government will "soon" launch a consultation aimed at improving shared parental leave, though not pay.

Working mothers currently receive 52 weeks of maternity leave, of which 39 are paid. Fathers or partners receive just two weeks leave paid at the statutory rate of £125 a week, rising to £129 from April.

From April 3, new regulations introduced by the former Labour government will allow fathers or partners to take up to six months additional parental leave once the mother has returned to work after 20 weeks. Some of this leave may be paid.

Clegg said he wanted to "go further" by enabling fathers or partners to take leave after six weeks of the child's birth when many mothers return to work as the more generous maternity pay - 90 per cent of average weekly earnings - is replaced by the statutory pay.

Fathers could also be offered additional blocks of "use-it-or-lose-it" leave within 10 weeks of the child's birth.

The proposals have been given the cold shoulder by family groups who are angry at the coalition's unprecedented attack on a range of benefits and services for parents, including restricting maternity grants to the first child and stop funding for Sure Start centres.

4Children charity chief executive Anne Longfield has accused ministers of "giving with one hand while taking with the other."

Maternity Action director Rosalind Bragg has branded Clegg's proposals "extremely disappointing" and designed to appease businesses than give parents real choice.

Bragg argued that an essential step in encouraging parents, especially fathers, to take leave would be to increase the rate of pay.

"The statutory pay is below the earnings of many working parents and places families in significant financial difficulty. They can't afford to take leave," she said.

"Many parts of Europe pay maternity leave at full pay for the first 18 to 20 weeks and in some cases much longer. Increasing paternity pay to wage replacement levels would encourage more fathers to take the time off."

There is widespread misunderstanding about who bears the costs of statutory pay.

While parents receive these payments directly from their employer, the company can claim almost the entire amount back from the government. Small businesses can reclaim 104.5 per cent.

The government actively opposed the now defeated EU Pregnant Workers Directive which would have set minimum legal entitlements for 20 weeks of maternity leave and two weeks of paternity leave at full pay.

Employment Relations Minister Edward Davey argued that Britain could not afford it, even though poorer EU member states like Poland and Estonia already offer 20 weeks of fully paid maternity leave.

As the fifth-richest country in the world, Britain can and must do better than Clegg's measly proposals.

Rather than trying to copy Sweden's regressive "free school" scheme to accelerate privatisation of education, the government should learn from that country's world-class family laws, which allow parents an equal share of 16 months of paid leave per child, including 12 months paid at 80 per cent of average earnings.