The Women and Equalities Committee has published its report into paternity and shared parental leave, calling for a “full review…[to] fully grasp the scale of the task and address fundamental flaws in the system”.

The report is detailed in its research and stark in its findings: it states that the UK’s parental leave system has fallen behind most comparable countries and that it has “one of the worst statutory leave offers for fathers and other parents in the developed world”. Similarly, the report notes the lack of provision for self-employed fathers and other parents, as well as labyrinthine criteria to qualify for shared parental leave.

As for the report’s recommendations, they are divided into four sections and include the following:

1. Increasing statutory pay

• The Government is urged to consider raising paternity pay to match maternity pay in the first six weeks (90% of average earnings).
• Also recommended is that the Government considers “a feasible approach to phased introduction of increases to statutory pay across the system, to bring rates for all working parents up to a very substantial proportion (80% or more) of average earnings or the real Living Wage”.

2. Extending paternity leave

• The report supports plans to legislate for a ‘day one right’ to paternity leave, in line with rights to maternity leave, and more generally to make maternity and paternity rights “as equal as possible”.
• Paid statutory paternity leave is recommended to be increased to six weeks.
• The Committee also calls on the Government to consider options to provide statutory paid leave for all self-employed and non-employee working fathers.

3. Reforming shared parental leave

• The report urges the Government to “consider steps to address flaws in Shared Parental Leave”, including how to simplify the eligibility criteria and break down barriers to flexibility in the scheme.

4. Extending access to paid leave

• The Committee recommends that the Government’s review considers the needs of so-called ‘kinship carers’ with a view to including them in the paid parental leave system.

To read the report in full, click here.

Our employment and immigration lawyers will continue to track developments closely. We will issue further updates as implementation plans are announced and highlight where we think the changes may have a particular impact on the media, technology and sports sectors. In the meantime, our specialists are here to help if you have any questions.