Henry Smith MP has backed a Government proposal to give all parents the right to demand flexible working from their employers.
Commenting, Henry said:
“I’m delighted that the new proposals will enable parents to be given the greater flexibility in the workplace that they require. As a father who works long hours I understand the difficulties in balancing work and family life. The proposals place particular emphasis on empowering women to get back into the workplace earlier, thereby helping to bridge the gender pay gap
“Parents and carers can already ask for more flexible working patterns such as flexitime and working from home, but people are not taking advantage of these benefits as commonly as they could. At the moment the burden rests solely on women and we need to shift this focus to a fair settlement for both parents. This proposal will benefit businesses, and will profit the economy as a modern workforce needs to be a flexible workforce.
“Related to working patterns is the issue of childcare and this Government has already introduced plans to give £100 million to early education and childcare, through local authorities, to meet the growing demand for places. Significantly, the Government will extend free childcare to 130,000 of the most disadvantaged two-year-olds from September 2012, rising to around 260,000 children by September 2014. It’s crucial that we ensure that children from poorer families do not lose out and these plans are a significant step towards guaranteeing this.
“This Government has taken unprecedented steps, in spite of the invidious decisions it is having to make to tackle the historic debts it inherited from the Labour Government, to support hard working people. The Government has been able to increase the income tax personal allowance to £9,205, helping around 25 million people and taking a total of two million low paid people out of paying tax altogether. The Chancellor has cut fuel duty, so that a litre of fuel is now ten pence cheaper (approximately 45 pence cheaper per gallon) than it would have been under a Labour Government. I welcome the freeze in council tax, which will save households an average of £72 last year, £72 this year and £72 next year, and the extension of free childcare to the families that need the most help.”
The new package of employment rights, expected to be introduced in 2015, is intended to make flexible working the norm, which it is hoped will encourage more mothers to return to the workplace. It is predicted that more women workers in the labour force will be critical to an economic recovery and thus a clearer route back to work is needed. New mothers will now be able to return to work two weeks after childbirth, and share the rest of their maternity leave with their partner under the new plans.
Under the current system parents have the right to ask to change their hours and working location and employers are required to consider the request. This right is available to employees who have 26 weeks continuous service and are parents of children under 17 or carers of adults. New mothers can take a maximum of 52 weeks of leave after the birth of their child, and fathers are entitled only to two weeks of statutory paternity leave of their own. Under the new plans based on maximum flexibility, a new mother will be able to trigger flexible leave at any point after the first two weeks. This means that parents will be able to share the remaining two weeks, with leave taken in turns or at the same time. Furthermore, paternity leave will remain at two weeks but is to be reviewed in 2018.