EMPLOYMENT LAW
WHY EMPLOYERS CAN ’ T LEAVE IT TOO LATE TO PREPARE FOR
Rosemary Lundy , Head of Employment Law at leading law firm Arthur Cox , explains the extension to Shared Parental Leave
NEW RULES which the Government is planning . t is estimated that more than half of families throughout the UK rely on
Igrandparents for childcare , with over seven million grandparents involved in childcare provision .
Indeed , research commissioned recently by Save the Children , Grandparents Plus and the Family and Childcare Trust revealed that almost two million grandparents have given up a job , reduced their hours or taken time off to look after their grandchildren at a time when an increasing number of grandparents want to remain in work themselves .
These statistics are set to have increasing resonance with employers throughout Northern Ireland , with the Government planning to extend Shared Parental Leave to working grandparents who help care for their grandchildren .
The aim is to help parents return to work more quickly and help older workers extend their working lives .
Employers must take note of these plans and be fully prepared to manage this new development to parental leave and pay .
Almost two years after it was introduced , to enable working mothers to end their maternity leave in order to share leave and pay with their partner , most employers are still struggling to get to grips with the complex rules relating to Shared Parental Leave .
The right is currently limited to the mother ’ s partner typically the child ’ s father or the mother ’ s partner if there is an enduring family relationship with other relatives specifically excluded .
Takeup has been low , with only five per cent of new fathers estimated to have opted for the scheme .
Despite this , the Government ' s plan is to extend the right to working grandparents who help care for their grandchildren .
Parents , and soon grandparents , will be able to share a pot of up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of parental leave pay , currently £ 138.18 per week ( due to rise to £ 140.98 in April 2017 ) or 90 per cent of the employee ’ s average weekly earnings ( whichever is lower ).
There has been a mixed reaction to Shared
Parental Leave since its introduction , with some recent statistics indicating that the average parental leave taken last year in the UK was 12.4 weeks per employee .
Public sector employees are more likely to make requests than their private sector counterparts , while 30 per cent thought Shared Parental Leave was not an affordable option .
Additionally , the Shared Parental Leave scheme has been notoriously difficult and complex , which may account for the low takeup , but the good news for employers is that the Government has promised to streamline existing rules to make the system less complex .
There are a number of positive features of the extension to the scheme , of course , one being that it is good for the economy as it keeps more people in the workplace .
It will particularly benefit single mothers who , without a partner to share leave with ,
Almost two years after it was introduced , to enable working mothers to end their maternity leave in order to share leave and pay with their partner , most employers are still struggling to get to grips with the complex rules relating to Shared Parental Leave .
will now be able to turn to grandparents , while there will also be advantages for parents whose parents are selfemployed .
Grandparents taking parental leave is prevalent in other parts of Europe , and this is likely to soon be the case in Northern Ireland .
Preparation is key if local employers are to manage the extension of the Shared Parental Leave scheme , and advice should be sought at the earliest opportunity .
MOREINFORMATION
The Employment Law team at Arthur Cox is well positioned to advise on all aspects of employment law in Northern Ireland .
Please call + 44 28 9023 0007 for further information from Rosemary or your regular Arthur Cox contact .
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