Statutory
maternity pay will be increased to £100 a week by 2003 and maternity leave
extended to 26 weeks, under new measures unveiled in the Budget last week.
Chancellor
of the Exchequer Gordon Brown also confirmed that in 2003 two weeks of paid
paternity leave will be introduced, at £100 a week.
The
measures to extend the maternity leave from 18 to 26 weeks and increase
maternity pay from £60.20 a week to £100 in 2003, were key proposals in the
DTI’s Work and Parents Green Paper released last December.
Other
measures included the provision of a £135m fund to recruit NHS staff.
