Why it's important to encourage working parents to share parental leave - Kim Bailey

A new CIPD report has revealed that very few new parents are using shared parental leave, which allows a portion of maternity leave and pay to be shared with partners, with 85 per cent of organisations revealing no new parents have taken up shared parental leave in the past two years.This research highlights that paternity leave in its current form isn’t working. Currently, under statutory paternity leave, employees can choose to take either one or two consecutive weeks’ leave if they have been employed for at least 26 weeks. Statutory paternity pay for eligible employees is currently either £156.66 a week or 90 per cent of their average weekly earnings, whichever is lower.During both of my maternity leaves, I have two sons aged two and eight, my partner chose to use one week of his annual leave, and one week of statutory paternity pay, as this meant we didn’t suffer too much of a financial hit, given that my maternity pay, from my former employer, was the bare minimum that an employer could legally offer.Therefore, I relied on statutory maternity pay for the vast majority of both maternity leaves. This wasn’t anywhere near enough to pay our mortgage, or live on, and I ended up having to rely on credit cards to get by, returning to work – both times – in thousands of pounds of debt.The financial stress, coupled with being solely responsible for all of the caring responsibilities, during those all-consuming, sleepless, newborn days meant that at times, I felt completely alone and exhausted.Enhancing statutory paternity/partner provision and pay would help deliver more choice for parents with caring responsibilities and encourage shared responsibilities.Encouragingly, research from the CIPD shows that almost half, 46 per cent, of organisations support extending statutory paternity/partner leave and pay, with 29 per cent of those backing an extension to six weeks or more.In response, the professional body for HR and people development is urging the government to increase statutory paternity/partner leave from one or two weeks’ leave to six weeks, either at or near the full rate of pay.Among other recommendations for the Government in the research report – known as Employer Focus on Working Parents – is the need for more affordable childcare from the end of maternity leave and to make flexible working requests a day-one right for everyone.This is vital in such a tight labour market where parents are struggling to make ends meet due to spiralling childcare fees and the cost of living crisis. A recent survey – published by Mumsnet and Pregnant Then Screwed – revealed that almost half, 43 per cent, of working mothers were considering leaving their jobs due to childcare costs becoming unaffordable and 40 per cent were working fewer hours than they wanted to because they couldn’t afford to pay for more childcare.It’s no surprise then that close to half, 48 per cent, of employers in Yorkshire and Humber have ‘hard-to-fill’ vacancies, as revealed in the CIPD’s latest Labour Market Outlook.Organisations that offer attractive parental leave and pay policies will be more desirable to working parents who represent a high proportion of the workforce and employers need not wait for government reform in this area.A pilot scheme known as the CIPD Parent Returner Programme was launched in Yorkshire and Humber to help employers enhance their parental policies where they are able to do.Known as the Parent Returner Programme, it provided free mentoring to 150 parents in the region and enabled 25 local employers – including Burberry, Yorkshire Building Society, Jacobs, NG Bailey and Morrisons – to receivetraining on how to improve their ‘returner’ recruitment policies and practices.The aim is for this initiative to have a trickle-down effect on other employers in Yorkshire and Humber and lead to an increase in the number of jobs offering flexible working in the region.

Kim Bailey is the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) North’s communications specialist.