More updates have been announced as part of the government’s Good Work Plan. The new proposals are based around supporting families and as such a further consultation has been launched.
The new consultation has been created to look at high-level options and principles to enable parents to balance the gender division of parental leave and the consultation asks whether Statutory Paternity Leave for fathers and same sex partners should be changed and through the consultation require suggestions on ways in which the Shared Parental Leave Policy, introduced in 2015, could be improved.
The consultation also sets out a proposal for a new Neonatal Leave and Pay entitlement, for parents of premature and sick babies who need to spend a prolonged period in neonatal care following birth. Parents would receive one week of Neonatal Leave and Pay for every week that their baby is in hospital, subject to certain conditions which form part of the consultation. This would be available to mothers, fathers and partners.
The Government is also consulting on whether employers should publish their family related leave and pay, flexible working policies and whether there should be a requirement for employers to consider advertising jobs as flexible.
For more information, read the full consultation here.
