Maternity & paternity
Pregnant employees are entitled to take 52 weeks' maternity leave. Pregnant employees' partners are entitled to take two weeks' ordinary paternity leave provided that they have the required continuous service.
Parents with babies due on or after 5 April 2015 are entitled to take shared parental leave. Shared parental leave enables mothers to commit to ending their maternity leave and pay at a future date, and to share the untaken balance of leave and pay as shared parental leave and pay with their partner.
Shared parental leave: Will the pandemic increase childcare equality?
Will the pandemic bring about a shift in perception of fathers accessing parental leave or is there a need for a more drastic approach?

April 2021 employment law changes: five things for HR to do
An annual update on the changes to employment law that are happening in April 2021 – IR35, national living wage, statutory pay rates...

Volvo unveils global paid parental leave policy
Volvo Cars has today announced the global roll-out of its brand new ‘Family Bond’ paid parental leave policy after a...

Personnel Today Awards 2021 opens for entries
HR and L&D teams wishing to celebrate the successes of the past year can begin their journey towards receiving the recognition they deserve from today.

OECD countries all guilty of gender pensions gap
Women in OECD countries receive around a quarter less income than men from the pension system.

Ministerial maternity bill passes amid criticism
MPs have voted to give ministers paid maternity leave, but the bill has been criticised for excluding backbench MPs and for giving no mention to paternity leave.

Employers ‘missing a trick’ on awareness of rights during pandemic
Employers could do more to make working parents aware of their rights to leave and financial support during the pandemic, a study has claimed.

Ministerial maternity bill will help ‘spectacularly small’ number of women
Labour MP Stella Creasy said she would be prepared to sue the government over plans to grant maternity protections to cabinet ministers but not backbench MPs.

Covid-19: Government policies ‘exacerbated’ gender inequality
Policies launched in response to the pandemic have overlooked well-understood labour market and caring inequalities faced by women.

New law will enable Cabinet ministers to take maternity leave
A new law will be passed that will for the first time extend maternity leave rights to senior government ministers.

A sixth of redundant staff say they were selected for being a parent
Law firm Slater and Gordon says some redundancy selection processes are unfair and employers are unlawfully making decisions based on protected characteristics.

Establish a legal right to furlough for working parents: TUC
Major survey finds 78% of working mothers have not been able to gain furlough funding.

Gig economy: Just Eat offers couriers better terms
Food delivery company Just Eat has announced it will offer couriers pay by the hour rather than per job in...

April 2021 statutory maternity, paternity and sick pay rates published
The government has published the proposed statutory rates for maternity pay, paternity pay, shared parental pay, adoption pay, parental bereavement...

Equal Pay Day: pandemic put gender equality at a crossroads
The UK has arrived at a crossroads at which progress in gender equality could either be set back decades, or...
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