Just 23 of the FTSE 100 companies publish details of their maternity or parental leave policies

In some cases it is easier to find details of complimentary Christmas hampers, boxing classes and ‘contemplation rooms’ than how much parental leave is on offer, and at what levels of pay. Many of the FTSE 100 say they offer ‘generous’ policies, but don’t go into any more detail, making it difficult for potential employees to make informed decisions about finances and career development. In a Mumsnet survey, 82% of parents and prospective parents said they are reluctant to ask potential employers about parental leave policies because they worry it would make a job offer less likely. Mumsnet is calling on the government to add parental leave and pay policies to gender pay gap reports.

Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts said: “This information is unbelievably significant for lots of parents; people need transparency so that they can make informed decisions, and when you take a step back it’s baffling that so many companies make it so difficult to find, given that it significantly affects people's lives. If more companies were to publish their policies it could well encourage a race to the top and would certainly reward employers who do the right thing. It’s bizarre that some of the UK’s largest employers feel the need to tell people about their ‘wellbeing libraries’ but not their parental leave policies.”

The 23 companies who publish details about their parental leave policies are:

• Admiral

• Aviva

• BHP

• BP

• British American Tobacco

• BT

• Croda International

• Diageo

• Direct Line

• Experian

• Johnson Matthey

• Reckitt Benckiser

• Rio Tinto

• Rightmove

• Rolls-Royce

• Royal Bank of Scotland

• Royal Dutch Shell

• Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust

• Severn Trent

• SSE

• Standard Chartered

• Unilever

• Vodafone

We wrote to all the FTSE 100 companies who don’t currently publish their parental leave policies.

< Back to Publish Parental Leave index

July 2019