APPENDIX 7
Memorandum submitted by Dr Sue Middleton,
Centre for Policy Research (PL 1)
A NOTE ON THE SITUATION IN SIX EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
BACKGROUND
This note is based on information collected
from six countries in 1997 for an on-going project funded by the
European Union. The countries are Austria; Germany, Greece, Norway,
Portugal and the UK. The project aims to study the risk of poverty
and social exclusion for people undergoing one of four transitions
in their lives: from youth to adulthood; into lone parenthood;
into ill-health and/or disability; and into retirement. The information
below relates specifically to the support that lone parents might
expect to receive from employers but applies generally to workers
in these countries. Two types of support are identified. Parental
leave, usually to care for young children, which is in addition
to maternity leave; and special leave to care for children when
they are sick.
SUPPORT FOR
PARENTS
All countries in the study, with the exception
of the UK, recognise workers' roles as parents by making statutory
provision for parents to take leave to care for young or sick
children in addition to maternity leave (Table 1). The extent
of such provision varies significantly in terms of the length
of parental leave allowed, the extent to which such leave is paid
or unpaid, the conditions under which it is granted and, in the
case of Greece, the size and sector of the organisation in which
the employee works. Lone parents in all countries except Norway
are treated exactly the same as each parent in a two parent family,
with the result that lone parents are relatively disadvantaged
in the total amount of leave available to the family. Nevertheless,
lone parent workers in all countries except the UK do have some
statutory recognition of their role as parents.
This is not to say, of course, that statutory
rights are fulfilled by employers in all these countries. Evidence
from Greece and Portugal suggests that many employers ignore
Table 1 FAMILY
FRIENDLY WORKING PRACTICES
|
| Leave to care for sick child
| Parental Leave* | Other provision
|
|
| Austria | One week paid per annum
| Up to 24 months. 18 months lone parents |
|
| Germany | 10 days per child per annum at 70 per cent gross wage
| Up to two years | |
| Greece | 100+ employees Unpaid leave
1 child—6 days
2 children—8 days
3 or more children—10 days.
| PUBLIC
Unpaid
First child—Up to 2 years
Subsequent children—up to one year each
PRIVATE
3 months each parent (6 months lone parent)+
| 4 days per annum paid leave to visit school
|
| Norway | Paid leave.15 days per annum each parent for children under 12 years (30 days lone parent)
| Unpaid leave1 year each parent each child.
2 years lone parents+
| Right to unpaid reduced working hours by
arrangement with employer
|
| Portugal | Under 10 years—30 days per annum.
Over 10 years—15 days per annum.
Paid 65 per cent of average daily wage
| Unpaid six months leave for child under 3 years old
| Right to flexible hours and part-time work for children under 12
|
| UK | No national provision |
No national provision | No national provision
|
|
*following maternity leave.
+Greece—conditional on one year's employment and can
be refused if more than 8 per cent of workforce take parental
leave in that year.
+Norway—conditional on six months employment.
these provisions and that parents cannot afford to exercise their
legal rights through the courts. Further, it cannot be assumed
that employers in the UK do not allow their employees to take
parental leave rather that, in line with the `liberal' character
of the UK welfare regime, such matters are at the discretion of
employers and subject to negotiation between employee and employer.
Nevertheless, state recognition of workers' parenting roles is
likely to assist parents who are in work at the time when they
become lone parents to continue working. It might also encourage
lone parents to return to work.
| 
