Fathers will be able to take six months off work to look after children under new rules allowing mothers to transfer maternity leave to their partners, it was announced today.
At the moment, mothers can take up to 12 months off work after having a baby, nine months of which are paid. Fathers are currently entitled to two weeks’ paid paternity leave.
The new scheme will allow up to six months of unused maternity leave to be transferred to the father (three months paid and three unpaid), which can be taken once the other parent has returned to work.
The move has been given a cautious welcome by the Institute of Directors (IoD) provided its implementation is simple and the amount of overall paid leave is not increased.
However, David Frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) told the BBC that now was not the time to be introducing new employment legislation as businesses already had the recession to deal with.
The government insisted the scheme had been designed in a way that ‘minimises the administrative burdens on businesses’. The changes will be introduced for parents of children due on or after April 3, 2011 and, according to estimates, only one in every 137 small businesses will see increases in paternity leave.
Business minister Pat McFadden said: “The number of businesses affected is expected to be small – less than 1% of small businesses – and we will work with business to make sure any changes are introduced in a way that minimises burdens and gives them predictability in the provision of leave.
“As family friendly policies have been introduced we have seen more retention of mothers in their current jobs when they go back to work.”
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2009
