Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk

Back to thread
MNHQ

Guest post: "New guidelines will help bosses support working parents with premature babies"

1 reply

MumsnetGuestPosts · 05/09/2017 11:06

In the UK more than 95,000 poorly or premature babies are born each year. For the families involved, it can be a really stressful time and parents will often have to spend precious hours separated from their newborns, with lots of travelling between home and hospital - all while the mother is also recovering.

At this difficult time, work should not be an added worry. But I have met parents who have been worried about the security of their job when their baby has been born prematurely.

The Government has been unwavering in its commitment to building an economy that works for everyone and a crucial part of that is creating a fair and decent working environment, including for working parents whose child is born prematurely.

In most cases, businesses are compassionate and flexible and I am pleased to say the majority of employers I have met treat their staff with respect.

But while the UK’s maternity leave system is one of the most generous in the world, I have heard first-hand the concerns of working parents. I am determined they know and make full use of their rights and that employers should be fully equipped to offer their staff the support they need.

That’s why I asked workplace experts Acas to draw up new and comprehensive guidelines to provide that peace of mind to both workers and employers. Guidance published today includes advice on everything from offering financial support to parents paying extra childcare costs to highlighting the statutory pay and leave they are entitled to. I would also urge employers to remind their staff of the 50 weeks of shared parental leave they could take or explore the option of compassionate leave.

But an employer’s responsibility to support their staff does not end a few weeks after a baby is born. We expect businesses to be sympathetic to parents who need extra time off for hospital appointments and this guidance sets out advice on how employers can consider extending annual leave or allowing a parent to work from home to relieve pressure.

I will be assessing how employers react to this guidance and it is my hope that this will help working families to better understand the options available to them, while also allowing employers to provide the best support possible to their staff at what can be an incredibly stressful time for families.

Margot James will be responding to questions and comments on her post later this week.

Go to post
MNHQ

BojanaMumsnet · 12/09/2017 11:32

Hello all,

Thank you for your comments - here's Margot James' response.

"Thank you everyone, for all your comments.

"Legislation to protect and support working parents is already in place, but we recognise that everyone needs to fully understand exactly how that law applies. This guidance makes it clear to working parents what they are entitled to and also how employers can be flexible in supporting their staff when it comes to parental leave.

"As well as maternity and paternity leave, employees have the legal right to request flexible working arrangements. Employers must consider these requests and can only refuse them if they have a legitimate reason to refuse a request.

"I understand that sometimes, fathers might want to take their paternity leave when their baby is home rather than immediately after a premature birth. Leave should be flexible to take when it works best for the family. In law, paternity leave can be taken within eight weeks of their child’s due date, or immediately after the birth, which gives parents a choice.

"I’d also like to highlight the shared parental leave and pay scheme. Introduced in 2015, all eligible parents can opt to share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay. This leave can be taken in separate blocks giving parents greater flexibility to decide how best to share childcare responsibilities.

"The Acas guidance is designed to help employers go beyond what is written down in law and show sensitivity in how they communicate with their staff. There are a number of free or low cost ways to support staff included in the guidance, such as establishing how working parents want to be contacted at a difficult time, and how much information they want employers to share with colleagues about their newborn.

"Working with Acas, we will monitor how effective and useful the new guidance is for parents and employers."

Watch this thread for updates

Tap "Watch" to get all the latest updates

End of posts

There are no more MNHQ posts on this thread

Back to thread