APPENDIX 14
Memorandum submitted by New Ways to Work
(PL 14)
WHY SHOULD
IT BE
PAID?
1. Parental Leave should be paid because
otherwise it will not be taken. The survey on take-up commissioned
by the TUC[51]
confirms what common-sense tells us: unpaid parental leave may
be taken by some affluent women in stable relationships, in order
to top up their maternity leave, but otherwise will be largely
irrelevant.
2. We would submit to the Committee that
to introduce Parental Leave into the U.K in an unpaid form is
to miss a great opportunity.
WHY PAID
PARENTAL LEAVE
SHOULD BE
A PRIORITY
FOR THE
GOVERNMENT.
3. We live in a time when women make up
half the workforce and in the future may become the majority.
Women are working longer hours and returning to work after having
children faster than ever before. The caring work in and around
the home, that has largely been the responsibility of women, remains
to be done and is of vital importance.[52]
4. The world of work needs to be modernised
to accommodate modern day realities and allow women and men to
fulfil their domestic responsibilities. Some firms are introducing
family friendly employment practices but the effect is piecemeal.[53]
If Parental Leave was to be introduced in such a way that women
and men could take it: paid, and operated flexibly, it could be
taken as and when the individual needs of the family required,
(subject also to the needs of the employer).
5. Parental Leave is one of the ways in
which working families can be assisted. It gives parents a method
by which they can balance their home and work responsibilities.
6. Children benefit from having more time
with their parents. If maximum take up was ensured, every child
in Britain could be guaranteed that (in addition to the first
few weeks of life) one of his/her parents would be at home to
look after him/her for 6 months and be their during domestic emergencies.
7. Employers also benefit because ignoring
employees' domestic circumstances does not make their homes go
away. If employees are granted rights that help them strike the
right balance they are more contented, healthy and motivated.
8. Society can only benefit from allowing
their future citizens the sorts of rights set out in para 6 above.
These rights may not seem much when set out as they
are. They are a great deal more than they are at the moment when
men for example have no statutory right to any time off work because
they are fathers.
The Social Policy Aspects of Parental Leave
9. There are a number of elements that the
committee should be aware of when considering how best to introduce
parental leave: important groups that need specific consideration
are as follows:—
LOW INCOME
FAMILIES
10. Children put a financial strain on all
of us, but the pressure on low income families is such that it
is completely unrealistic to suggest that they will be able to
avail themselves of the right to take parental leave unless their
income is replaced.[54]
SINGLE PARENT
FAMILIES
11. One of the biggest hurdles for single
parents entering employment is knowing what to do if there is
a domestic crisis at home. Parental Leave and Domestic Crisis
leave will be of great assistance to those who have no one with
whom they share their family responsibilities. However, the practical
reality of the situation is that again unless these new rights
are paid and well publicised, they will not be real rights that
people can take.
MEN
12. The proper introduction of parental
leave would send out a message that the government is truly interested
in tackling the perceived Fathering deficit and the social problems
that is engendering, particularly amongst boys. Parental leave
can put emphasis on the unique contribution fathers can make to
their children's upbringing, over and above being a breadwinner.
In other words paid parental leave would recognise, for the first
time, that there are times in the lives of men, when being a father
is more important than anything else and that is a very important
message.
13. Men's incomes still remain more important
than women's in the average British household and therefore if
unpaid leave was going to be taken by anyone it is even more unlikely
to be taken by fathers than mothers.
14. The European experience of introducing
parental leave shows that paying parental leave does not in itself
guarantee take up amongst fathers. Leave needs to be flexible
to attract them. It also needs to be made acceptable amongst men
and their employers. Even those that would like to take it need
to be assured that they will not be endangering their careers
by doing so. We would suggest that the introduction of Parental
Leave be fanfared by a series of television adverts particularly
aimed at men.
What method of payment should be used?
15. It should be stated at the outset that
New Ways to Work does not pretend to be an organisation with a
high technical level of understanding of the social security system.
Nevertheless, we hope that some of our ideas might be helpful
to the Committee.
Vouchers
16. We would suggest that on the registering
of the birth of a child, the parents are given a book of Parental
Leave Vouchers. Each voucher could represent a day, week, month
or whatever flexible unit has been decided. As leave was taken,
the vouchers could be handed to the employer. If only a part of
parental leave was to be paid, some of the vouchers could be gold
perhaps, in contrast to the others.
17. The use of vouchers would have an important
promotional aspect to them. It would be clear that a real right
had been given. It would also act as some form of record keeping.
(Record keeping only becomes an important issue when it is paid,
we would suggest, not least because it will not be taken otherwise).
18. The books would be treasured in the
same way that mothers look after their child benefit books.
Level of Payment
19. We would suggest that the mechanism
and perhaps level of payment that would work best would be something
akin to Maternity Pay. In other words the parent is paid by the
employer, who reclaims most of the amount back from the government
by simply holding back Tax and N.I. This has the benefit of not
increasing the burden on the Social Security budget and is perceived
as a benefit arising out of the parent's status as an employee.
20. If it is felt that to introduce this
at the current time would be too expensive we would suggest that
it is open to the government to introduce one of two limits:
— Limit the length of paid parental
leave. In other words when parental leave is first introduced,
only four weeks out of the three months is paid by the government,
leaving it open for the employer to top it up.
— Limit the level of payment. Instead
of granting a right to full income replacement initially perhaps
to keep that right to a limit that shadows the minimum wage.
51 TUC Equal Rights Dept Survey: More time for the
children: A report on the accessibility of Parental Leave. February
1999. Back
52
Women's working patterns Social trends seem to show that women
are working longer hours: from an average of 24.8 hours in 1984
to 27.1 hours in 1994. Brannen J, Moss P and Wade C, 1997, Parental
employment 1984 1994, Labour market trends, DfEE, London. Furthermore
nearly half of married and cohabiting women with pre school children
are working today, compared with a quarter 15 years ago. Wilkinson
and Mulgan 1995, Freedom's children: work relationships and politics
amongst 18-34 yearolds in Britain today, Demos. The proportion
of dual income families in the U.K rose from 43 per cent in 1973
to 60 per cent in 1992. International Year of the Family, 1994,
"Families and Work, Factsheet 3. 86 per cent of full time
working mothers feel that they never have enough time to get things
done and women are 10 to 20 per cent more likely than men of a
similar age and status to feel stressed. Tyrell 1995, "Time
in our Lives: facts and analysis on the 90s" in "Time
Squeeze, Demos Quarterly" issue 5.3. Back
53
What is the extent of Paternity Leave in the U.K today? The Institute
of Personnel and Development in conjunction with Hammond Studdards
did a random survey of 2000 IPD members in April last year. They
received 300 responses. In answer to the question: Does your organisation
offer paternity leave?
Yes 57 per cent
No 43 per cent
It is not clear whether this is paid or unpaid.
For respondents who answered yes, the duration of the paternity
leave was as follows:
Less than 5 days 50 per cent
5 days + 44 per cent
Discretion 6 per cent Back
54
Statistics showing the proportion of people just making ends
meet:
Pre family 34 per cent
Children under 5 49 per cent
Children over 5 53 per cent
Post family 36 per cent Back
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