Work and Families
From 1st April, additional "family-friendly" rights will be
available to employees.
The changes allow one year's Maternity Leave to all women,
regardless of how long the woman has been employed, and Statutory
Maternity Pay is extended to 9 months.
However, proposed changes for additional Paternity Leave for new
fathers, and to allow a mother to transfer some of her Maternity
Leave to the father, will not be introduced this time. Employers
should therefore prepare for another round of changes, probably
during 2008.
Improvements for employers include a requirement that women who
change their mind about the date of their return to work must in
future give a minimum of 8 weeks' notice, as opposed to 28 days at
present. The law also confirms that an employer can make
"reasonable contact" with the employee during Maternity Leave.
Employees may do up to 10 days' work for the employer during
Maternity Leave, but this must be paid and neither the employer nor
the employee is under any obligation to agree to this.
The right to request flexible working arrangements will be
extended to carers of dependants aged over 18, but will still not
apply to carers of children aged 6-17, unless the child is
disabled.
Commenting on the changes, Nick Soret of Mentor Services said:
"Whilst the Government has put the more complex proposals on the
back burner for now, the April changes will still be an additional
burden for businesses. Employers will have to apply different
rules, depending on whether the woman's Expected Week of Childbirth
falls before 1st April or after, and it is still not clear how much
contact the employer is permitted to make with the employee during
Maternity Leave. There is also likely to be confusion about who has
the right to request flexible working arrangements."
Key points about the changes
- All women whose expected week of childbirth falls after 1st
April 2007, regardless of length of service, are entitled to 12
months' Maternity Leave;
- Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) will be payable for up to 39
weeks of Maternity Leave;
- Statutory Adoption Pay will also increase to 39 weeks. However,
employees require a period of 6 months' employment to qualify for
Adoption Leave and Statutory Adoption Pay;
- Women on Maternity Leave will have to give at least 8 weeks'
notice if they intend to return to work before the end of their
full Maternity Leave period;
- The right to request flexible working arrangements will be
extended to carers of adult dependants.