Government consultation on working rights
15 March 2005
The Department of Trade and Industry has launched a new consultation paper exploring options for extending and developing the existing laws on maternity and paternity leave and flexible working rights.
Through the consultation, “Work and Families: Choice and Flexibility”, the DTI would like to hear your views about how best to:
- extend the period of statutory maternity pay, maternity allowance and adoption pay initially from 26 to 39 weeks and subsequently to 52 weeks by the end of the next Parliament;
- improve dialogue between employers and employees during maternity leave, including extending the notice period mothers give when returning to work;
- allow a mother to transfer some of her leave and pay entitlement to the father;
- extend the existing right for an employee to request flexible working arrangements to new groups of people, for example parents of older children and carers of sick and disabled adults.
The closing date for responses to the consultation is 25 May 2005.
Work and Families: Choice and Flexibililty (DTI
Tags: For employers, Maternity
