APPENDIX 6
Memorandum submitted by Professor Hilary
Land, Bristol University (PL 24)
SUMMARY
— The introduction of a new right to
parental leave is welcome. However it is a very timid first step
and those without employers able and willing to make payments
for such leave may well feel unable to use such leave as much
as they would like. This will therefore disadvantage poorer families.
— Evidence from other European countries
which have had parental leave for over twenty years shows that
payment is important. It also shows that giving parents the choice
about who takes the leave means that in the vast majority of families
it is the mothers who continue to take it. If the objective is
to increase the involvement of more fathers in the care of their
small children then paternity leave has to be introduced.
— Unpaid paternity leave raises important
questions about responsibilities and capacities to maintain pension
rights and payments.
1. The introduction of a new right to three
month's parental leave for men and women when they have a baby
or adopt a child and to time off for urgent family reasons is
welcome. However, the inclusion of these rights in the Employment
Relations Bill is little more than the minimum needed to conform
with the Parental Leave Directive.
2. The main limitation is that this leave
is unpaid, and therefore many mothers and even more fathers will
not be able to afford to take full advantage of this leave. The
simplification and extension of existing maternity rights is welcome
too but it will still be the case the U.K. provision for paid
maternity leave is not generous compared with most other EU countries.
In other words, these new rights build on a rather slim base.
3. If the new parental leave remains unpaid
in the U.K., will pension rights be protected? Just as important,
who will be responsible for maintaining pension contributions?
It is clear that the basic state pension will be protected but
what about stakeholders, occupational and personal pensions?
4. Evidence from other European countries
which introduced paid parental leave, both following the birth
of a child or for emergencies concerning the children, over twenty
years ago (see Kamerman & Kahn, 1978) shows that it is important
such leave is paid if uptake is to be widespread. Such leave was
usually made part of the social insurance system to which both
employers and employees contribute. This made the administration
and funding of this leave straightforward and not a heavy burden
on employers.
5. The context of the introduction of these
new rights appears to be a desire to make employment more "family
friendly" for both mothers and fathers. Together with the
national child care strategy the intention is to facilitate the
employment of mothers and the dual-earner family. The Working
Families Tax Credit with the new Child Care Tax Credits will also
assist employed mothers , although it remains to be seen whether
or not it will encourage dual earner families to become single
breadwinner families as the Institute of Fiscal Studies argued
in their evidence to this committee when the tax credit scheme
was under consideration.
6. Parental and paternity leave was introduced
in Scandinavian countries in the mid 1970s. Their experience shows
very clearly that if the objective of these policies is to increase
the involvement of fathers in the care of their young children
more needs to be done. (Employed parents are entitled to a leave
of absence for forty two weeks with 100 per cent wage compensation
or fifty two weeks at 80 per cent, while retaining both job security
and social security rights). Mothers must take leave three weeks
before and six weeks after the birth of the baby. Fathers are
entitled to two weeks unpaid paternity leave and many employers
now give wage compensation and the uptake has been high. However
the right to share parental leave had not been in much demand.
In this Norway is little different from other OECD countries.
Studies from Denmark, Finland, Germany and Norway show that fewer
than 5 per cent of fathers have made use of this entitlement.
Sweden was an exception with one in four eligible fathers taking
at least some days of leave. (OECD, 1955 187). Studies also show
that fathers who take this parental leave on a voluntary basis
are well-educated, have permanent jobs, and have high incomes.
7. Since 1993, Norway has reserved four
weeks of parental leave for fathers i.e. this period cannot be
taken instead by mothers. The introduction of the quota resulted
in 80 per cent of fathers eligible to take it, doing so. Of those
fathers who did not use the quota, some felt their employers did
not approve and others worked shifts and therefore spent time
with their children anyway. Some did not get full wage compensation
because the amount depends in part on mothers' hours of employment.
(Leira, 1999).
8. Introducing a right for employed mothers
and fathers to take leave in order to care for their children
is an important step in shifting the balance of responsibilities
for the care of children between parents. However evidence from
those countries which have had such measures in place for over
twenty years shows that much more needs to be done if part-time
work, interrupted employment patterns and absence for family reasons
is not to remain strongly associated with women's employment.
As Arnlaugh Leira, a Norwegian expert on child care policies in
Scandinavia concludes in her study of recent policy changes "Mothers
have changed the gender balance in breadwinning. Changing the
gender balance in caring may prove even more difficult".
(Leira, 1998, 375).
REFERENCES
Kamerman, Sand Kahn, A., Family Policies
Government and Families in fourteen Countries, Columbia University
Press 1978
Leira, A. "Cash for Child Care and Daddy
Leave" Social Politics, Oxford University Press Autumn
1998
OECD, "Long Term Leave for Parents in OECD
Countries". Employment Outlook, para OECD 1995
June 1999
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