{"id":64554,"date":"2025-08-13T17:58:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T17:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/64554\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T17:58:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T17:58:26","slug":"ministers-launch-review-of-uk-parental-leave-and-pay-to-reset-system-employment-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/64554\/","title":{"rendered":"Ministers launch review of UK parental leave and pay to \u2018reset system\u2019 | Employment law"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ministers have launched a review of parental leave and pay as Labour<\/a> considers ways to make paternity leave and unpaid parental leave day-one rights.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, said the government had heard campaigners\u2019 concerns, and accepted the current system was not working for young families.<\/p>\n

Officials will assess the entire system for supporting new parents to take time off work when they have a baby, including shared maternity and paternity leave. Maternity leave is paid at 90% of a mother\u2019s average weekly earnings for the first six weeks, then for the next 33 weeks, whichever is lower of that 90% figure or \u00a3187.18 a week.<\/p>\n

New fathers can take two weeks\u2019 paid leave at a rate of either \u00a3187.18 a week or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is lowest. Officials hope to increase the take-up of shared parental leave, which allows a couple to share up to 50 weeks of leave and 37 weeks of paid leave between them.<\/p>\n

Reynolds has signalled plans to simplify the system for parents and employers, and stressed businesses would not face extra burdens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe arrival of a child, whether through birth or adoption, is a life-changing moment,\u201d the business secretary said. \u201cWe want to make sure parents get the support they need to balance work and family life. Campaigners have long called for change, and this government has listened. This review is our chance to reset the system and build something that works for modern families and businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demonstrators in London last month said better paternity leave would help close the gender pay gap by helping families share childcare. Photograph: Vuk Valcic\/Zuma Press Wire\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

It comes after hundreds of fathers took to the streets of London and Edinburgh<\/a> last month to demand better paternity leave. The London protest took place outside the Department for Business and Trade, as demonstrators said better paternity leave would help close the gender pay gap by helping families share childcare and thereby making it less likely new mothers would have to take career breaks or go part-time.<\/p>\n

Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, said: \u201cThose early years are the most special time for families, but too many struggle to balance their work and home lives. Supporting working parents isn\u2019t just the right thing to do \u2013 it\u2019s vital for our economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough our plan to make work pay, we\u2019re already improving the parental leave system with new day-one rights. This ambitious review will leave no stone unturned as we deliver for working families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials say millions of families could benefit from a better start for their children, given that one in three fathers do not take paternity leave because they cannot afford to, and the take-up of shared parental leave remains very low.<\/p>\n

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The review comes after the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, urged people to consider having more children<\/a> \u2013 and have them sooner \u2013 as she warned of the \u201cworrying repercussions\u201d created by a decline in birthrates.<\/p>\n

Phillipson told the Daily Telegraph that people were scared of having children because of the high costs and she wanted \u201cmore young people to have children, if they so choose\u201d.<\/p>\n

Months ago, the education secretary said young women had been given added \u201cfreedom\u201d to have more children by expanded government-funded childcare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ministers have launched a review of parental leave and pay as Labour considers ways to make paternity leave…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[84,1371,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-64554","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-jobs","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}