Recent developments in maternity and paternity rights
News item added 24th June 2008
Maternity leave
The government has plans to increase Statutory Maternity Pay to the cover the full 52 weeks of maternity leave.
Currently, all employees are entitled to 52 weeks maternity leave, regardless of their length of service or hours of work. Maternity leave is currently divided up into two different periods, Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML), which is the first 26 week period of leave and Additional Maternity Leave (AML), which comprises the following 26 weeks. The earliest date an employee can start her maternity leave is the beginning of the eleventh week before the Estimated Week of Childbirth (EWC) as long as certain notice requirements have been met. Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) can be paid for up to 39 weeks. To qualify for this, employees must have 26 weeks’ continuous service with the employer at the 15th week before the EWC. The employee must also receive an average pay of or above the lower earnings limit for NI contributions.
The first 6 weeks of SMP is currently paid at 90% of the employee’s weekly earnings and the remaining 33 weeks at £117.18 (April 2008-April 2009) or 90% of your normal pay, depending upon which is lowest. With recent setbacks the government’s plans to increase SMP to the full 52 weeks is not likely to come into effect until April 2010 at the earliest.
Paternity leave
The government has plans to change the length of paternity leave to up to 26 weeks, to be taken during the mother’s AML provided that she has returned to work. This change would mean that for the first time, parents would be able to choose which of them will take paid time off work to care for the child in their first year. The hope is that this will encourage fathers to become more involved in family life right from the start and allow more flexibility for families to help create a work-life balance.
Currently, an employee is entitled to one or two consecutive weeks of paternity leave. They are entitled to this if they have been employed continuously for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the EWC and if they are the father of the child, the mother’s husband/partner and have or expect to have parental responsibility for that child. Most employees who are entitled to paternity leave will also be entitled to Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP). This is paid at a flat rate of £117.18 per week (April 2008 – April 2009) or 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings, whichever is lowest.
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