Maternity campaign to probe impact of cuts

Valuing Maternity to investigate the impact of welfare reform on pregnant women and new mothers.

The Valuing Maternity campaign, which is made up of advice providers such as Citizens Advice, specialist charities like Maternity Action and trade unions and is asking women to come forward with their stories about how cuts to welfare benefits have affected them and their families

Valuing Maternity say that in last year’s Autumn Statement the Chancellor announced that Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance would increase by 1 per cent per year over the next three years.

This was below inflation and would result in a reduction in income of up to £221.87 by 2015, compared to indexing in line with inflation.

They say that this reduction in statutory payments comes on top of a series of recent cuts to maternity and child benefits, for example the Health in Pregnancy Grant, a £190 payment to all mothers in the later stages of pregnancy, which ceased in 2011.

The Sure Start Maternity Grant (SSMG), a one-off payment of £500 for parents on lower incomes to assist with the costs of a new baby, was restricted from 2011 to first babies and multiple births.

Child Benefit, a weekly payment of £20.30 a week for the first child and £14.30 for subsequent children, was frozen from 2011 and will be restricted from 2013. The payment was previously paid to all parents and will now be phased out where one parent earns between £50,000 and £60,000.

Valuing Maternity believes that the cumulative loss of benefits and reductions in maternity payments leaves women with up to £911.87 less during pregnancy and maternity leave. For women on low incomes, this is a clearly a significant amount of money.

They believe that concerns about finances may be forcing women to cut short their maternity leave, and that added stress during and after pregnancy could lead to more cases of post natal depression.

They point out that mothers also face new costs in exercising employment rights; new legislation brought in by the coalition government means that from 2013 it will cost £1,200 for a woman to take a pregnancy discrimination claim to the employment tribunal.

Valuing Maternity say research from 2005 found that 30,000 women each year lost their jobs as a result of unlawful pregnancy discrimination. This is 8 per cent of all pregnant women in the workforce.

They say Maternity Action and other advice agencies have observed an increase in pregnancy discrimination since the onset of the recession.

Valuing Maternity is continuing to push for parents to have the right to return to the same job after taking leave.

They want better protection against unfair selection for redundancy during pregnancy and leave, and are also exploring new ways to strengthen the hand of parents negotiating with their employers to balance work and caring responsibilities.

Valuing Maternity is working with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) to prepare guidance on breastfeeding on returning to work but will continue to push for the legal right to breastfeed at work.

They will also be documenting and critiquing the impact of austerity policies on NHS maternity services and services for pregnant women and new parents.

Valuing Maternity is urging supporters to sign up to the campaign.

Join them on Twitter using the #ValuingMaternity hashtag.

Story published on Women's Views on News, 25 October 2013.

Committee supports women's rights at work

Parliamentary committee report voices equality concerns.

The Parliamentary Committee on Business Innovation and Skills recently published the findings of its  review into women and in the workplace, following widespread concerns that women are falling behind in the career stakes.

The committee looked at all aspects of women’s work and career development from careers advice, to training, progression and protection against discrimination.

They were concerned at the lack of careers advice offered to boys and girls, and called for a cultural change in education, especially at the point when pupils choose subjects.

Girls in particular can find themselves discouraged from studying science and technology.

The committee believes the government should set targets for women in technical apprenticeships and use its funding to force higher education institutions to improve the proportion of women studying science and technology-related (STEM) subjects.

The government should use its buying power to promote private-sector firms with a good track record of employing and promoting women.

The committee was concerned that the Women in Work programme, which helps women get back into work, could be under threat now that Sector Skills Councils have to bid for funding, rather than receiving grants.

It recommended that large private companies should be forced to undertake and publish equal pay audits, and if necessary, compelled to publish data on the number of women in senior positions.

And the Public Sector Equality Duty, which requires public bodies to consider equality when employing staff and providing services, should be left intact.

The committee recommended that employees should be able to ask for flexible working from day one, rather than after six months, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission should be offered more resources to support small and medium-sized businesses to introduce flexible employment.

It urged the government to fund more research into maternity discrimination and recommended that women should not be charged the £1,200 fee when claiming maternity discrimination at an Employment Tribunal.

Valuing Maternity, a consortium of groups campaigning for better maternity rights for working women, said it would be pushing the government to implement the report's findings.

It welcomed a judicial review launched by public sector union UNISON, against the introduction of the employment tribunal fees.

Vital reading. Click here to see the whole paper.

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.

Valuing Maternity launch new guide for working mothers

Story published on Women's Views on News, October 4, 2012

A new campaign aims to tell working mothers their rights

The Valuing Maternity campaign has launched a new video offering advice to working women who are pregnant or new mothers.

More than 30,000 women lose their jobs each year after becoming pregnant and a further 200,000 face unfair treatment as a result of their pregnancy.

In this seven-minute video, solicitor Camilla Palmer, and advice worker Roz Hampson, explain what maternity discrimination is and how you can fight it.

Rebecca Raven, a former teacher who lost her job shortly after announcing she was pregnant, also tells of how she took her employer to an Industrial Tribunal.

“Any unfavourable treatment of a woman who is on or has been on maternity leave is unlawful,” says Palmer in the video.

Palmer believes maternity discrimination is on the increase due to the recession and that employers are often using redundancy as an excuse to get rid of women who are pregnant.

It is, says Palmer, increasingly seen as acceptable for employers to say; “Why would I employ a woman of child-bearing age because of the inconvenience to my business.”

Raven tells how she was handed a letter from the Headteacher of the school she taught at, terminating her employment just three days after she announced she was pregnant.

“At three months pregnant the last thing you expect is for someone to turn round and tell you they are taking away your income and your main source of stability,” she says.

“It was a very harrowing time and not something I would want anyone else to go through.”
Raven also tells of how she lost weight during her pregnancy, and of the long wait for the industrial tribunal.

Hampson advises women to make sure they know their rights before telling their employer they are pregnant. Women should also prepare for problems and make sure they put everything in writing, and ask for written agreements from their employer.

She also urges women to join a union and check their home insurance policy to make sure they have legal cover to cover legal expenses and seek advice quickly.

“Women should join the Valuing Maternity Campaign. 

“We at Maternity Action can give individual women advice about their problems, but we know that with the recession maternity discrimination is getting worse and the government should do something about it.  Now is the time to act,” she said.

We should be valuing pregnant women and new mothers, not sacking them

Story published on Women's Views on News, August 16, 2012

A few years ago I attended a friend’s baby shower.

My friend told the group that one of her husband’s colleagues had been made redundant because she had a young child and was unable to work until 8pm like her male colleagues.

She worked for a large City bank in the UK and received a big pay-off. Some of the women said that they would be delighted to be made redundant.

Now one of the women has herself lost her job because of pregnancy. She is among 30,000 each year who are sacked or forced to leave their work because they are pregnant or looking after a young child.

A further 200,000 are treated less favourably because of pregnancy or maternity, according to a study by the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission in 2005.

Valuing Maternity is a new campaign set up in the UK to fight maternity discrimination and improve services, information and support for pregnant women and new mothers.

Supported by the Maternity Alliance, unions like the National Union of Journalists and UNITE and advice groups like the Citizens Advice Bureau, it is encouraging women to tell their story.  Trudy’s is typical.

Before she became pregnant, Trudy’s boss said she was an excellent worker.  Her company was entering her work for national awards, and during her pregnancy her manager assured her that she would be able to return part-time.

As her maternity leave came to an end the boss changed tack and insisted that Trudy would not be able to fulfil the travel commitments of the job and suggested that a freelancer, who had been covering her role, should be retained with the same job title and equal responsibilities.

“My life was made absolute hell.  I was constantly undermined by the person I was sharing a job title with,” Trudy says.

“Meetings were held without me being there – even when I was in the office. I wasn’t included in conversations essential to the running of the business.”

Her work was often changed by her colleague at the behest of her boss.
“In short, I was seen to be no longer the trusted, respected employee I was previous to having a baby,” says Trudy.

It all came to a head when her manager suggested that the freelance colleague should be promoted to a position above her, taking on Trudy’s responsibilities and leaving her with the less important work.

Trudy saw this as an attempt to demote her and launched an appeal with the support of her union.

While this was happening Trudy continued to work to the best of her ability. She did not take time off, even when she or her child was ill.

“My confidence was shattered.

“On a personal level, it affected my home life with my partner and child, and I would often be depressed and weepy on my days off.”

Eventually Trudy took a job in a less prestigious department.

“I did feel that I had to compromise my career and I strongly feel that I could have continued in my previous role and excelled,” she says.

After nine months working at the new job, she became pregnant again and is now on maternity leave. Her current manager is also a mum and extremely supportive.

“I have no doubt that after my previous maternity leave, my manager was actively trying to get rid of me and she was uncomfortable with employing mothers.

“I strongly believe that it was viewed by my managers that in becoming pregnant, I had decided to sacrifice my career; that as soon as I was a parent it somehow changed my commitment to work and my ability to do my job. I couldn’t disagree more!” she concludes.

Louise Taft, a solicitor at Prolegal, says she has seen a rise in maternity discrimination cases since the onset of the recession in 2008.

“When the economy goes bad, the number of unfair dismissal cases as a whole goes up, but the proportion of pregnancy discrimination cases is about the same.

“We find many women are discriminated against when they have pregnancy related illnesses,” she says.

Ros Bragg, director of Maternity Action, says the number of women seeking advice from her organisation has more than doubled in the last year.

“The redundancy process is used as a way of shifting pregnant women and new mothers out of their jobs.

“The processes can be complex and this can make it difficult for women to prove they lost their jobs due to pregnancy discrimination.”

Bragg says that the law offers women relatively good protection against discrimination.  The problem is with compliance.

“Many women are not aware of their rights. Few are able to access advice when they need it particularly in light of cuts in advice services.

“Few have the personal or financial resources to pursue a case in late pregnancy or when looking after a new baby.”

Bragg says the Government should send a clear message to employers that they must comply with their legal obligations to pregnant women and new mothers.

“Unfortunately we are seeing messages from Government that pregnant women are a burden,” she says.

Well funded advice and information to enable women to exercise their rights and research into the effects of pregnancy discrimination in different industry sectors with targeted intervention to address this is also vital.

Bragg says in the absence of up to date research it is difficult to say which sectors are the worst offenders, but believes that women in the care industry may face particular problems.

“A lot of women are care workers and there is very poor practice in relation to manual handling in these jobs, leaving pregnant women having to choose either to leave their jobs or move and lift people or heavy equipment,” she says.

“Women are often very anxious that they are perceived as trouble makers when they are merely asserting the rights assigned to them in legislation. This reflects very negative attitudes towards pregnant women in the workplace at the moment.”

Bragg believes that discrimination faced by migrant women is often compounded when they become pregnant.  Maternity Action recently published an advice leaflet in Polish, as they are one of the largest groups of women from abroad having babies in the UK.

“Demand has been enormous. The number of downloads has been greater than the number of Polish women who had babies in the UK,” she says.