Under the new proposals fathers would continue to receive two weeks paternity leave and pay in one continuous block around birth. Paid leave would be at the standard rate (currently £128.73) with the exception of the first six weeks of maternity leave which would be at 90% of the employee’s salary. The new system would see total leave in year one between parents increased from 54 to 58 weeks. These proposals are subject to affordability. Currently employed mothers receive a long period of maternity leave and pay (52 weeks leave of which 39 weeks are paid). Employed fathers receive much less (two paid weeks). This system is inflexible and does not support shared parenting. Today’s proposals would supersede Additional Paternity Leave measures introduced on the 3 April 2011. Additional Paternity leave gives employed fathers a right to up to six months extra leave which can be taken once the mother has returned to work after 20 weeks. Some of the leave may be paid if taken during the mother’s maternity pay period. This is paid at 90% of earnings up to the same standard rate as Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) which is currently £128.73. Further information can be found here . Employed parents currently have a right to 13 weeks unpaid leave per parent per child, which can be taken before the child’s 5th birthday. In line with the revised Parental Leave Directive 2010, this would be extended to 18 weeks unpaid parental leave. This entitlement is in addition to the flexible parental leave described above. Currently 50% of fathers take two weeks of formal leave during paternity leave. Over 90% of fathers take time off around the time of their child birth. Over 80% use some statutory paternity leave; of these half use paternity leave exclusively - and a further 30% combine it with other types of leave. Additional measures in the consultation include changes to: Working Time Regulations (WTR) – proposals to amend the WTR so that annual leave entitlements can be rescheduled, and carried over to the next leave year, when a worker falls ill during planned annual leave. We are proposing to limit this to the four weeks of Working Time Directive leave. We also intend to amend the WTR to allow the carry over of annual leave due to maternity, paternity, parental or adoption leave – this will include the full 5.6 weeks of leave entitlement per year. The consultation also seeks views on giving businesses greater flexibility around annual leave, by allowing them to buy out untaken leave and also allowing carry over of leave on justifiable business grounds (this would only apply to the 1.6 weeks of domestic statutory leave). Full guidance will be produced prior to the WTR changes coming into force. 25 May 2011 As part of the Modern Workplaces consultation published 16 May, an Impact Assessment has been produced on the necessary amendments to the Working Time Regulations regarding the carry over of annual leave. To follow are the some of the key findings from the impact assessment: The UK's Working Time Regulations (WTRs) which give effect to the European Working Time Directive, are inconsistent with recent CJEU (Court of Justice of the European Union, previously known as the European Court of Justice) judgments around the interaction of annual leave and other types of leave, specifically sick, maternity and parental. ANNUAL LEAVE CARRY OVER ARRANGEMENTS: IMPACT ASSESSMENT
CIPP Policy News Journal
09/10/2012, Page 224 of 234
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker