Parental leave reforms don't go far enough

Paid leave for prenatal appointments, provisions for breastfeeding and equal pay for parental leave missing from new regulations say campaigners

Last week the government announced changes to parental leave rules which will give women a right to up to a year’s maternity leave, but enable her to return to work after two weeks if she wishes and share the remaining leave and maternity payments with her partner, as long as they qualify.

Fathers will be entitled to unpaid leave from work to attend up to two ante-natal appointments, and adopters will be entitled to the same pay and leave as birth parents.

All employees will now be able to request flexible working.

Ros Bragg, from Valuing Maternity, a campaign for better employment protection for pregnant women and new mothers said: “We are really pleased that women’s rights are protected for up to 52 weeks of maternity leave and that women have the option to share leave with fathers and partners.

But she added that the campaign had concerns about other aspects of the reforms.

In a guest blog, Emma Pickett, lactation consultant and co-chair of Association of Breastfeeding Mothers, called for clear rights to breastfeed on return to work.

In the UK, a breastfeeding mother had the legal right to ‘rest’ but not to express and store her milk.

Health and safety guidance might suggest that an employer could provide a room and a time for a mother to pump but they are only required to allow her to rest.

“We don’t want to rest. Give us 10 minutes to use our double electric breast pump perhaps 3 times in a working day and most of us will be able to continue to give our baby’s breast milk for as long as we want to,” she said.

“It will make continuing to breastfeed while working normal and manageable. We need never assume that a woman returning early to work would of course be ending breastfeeding.”

Valuing Maternity produced a checklist of measures which would promote real equality in shared parental leave.

These include paid time off for fathers and partners to attend anti-natal appointments, four weeks paid leave for all fathers and partners and statutory pay for paternity leave and additional paternity leave to match maternity pay.