Working Families response to the Green Paper: Support for All 2010

Working Families Response to the Families Green Paper: Support for All

Introduction
Working Families is the UK’s leading work life balance charity.  We have first hand evidence from the 5,000 callers to our free legal helpline each year of the difficulties that parents and carers face in balancing their work and caring responsibilities.  We know that work can be a major cause of stress in a family and that many families face choices between income and time poverty.  We support a network of parents of disabled children who work, or wish to work, and raise below particular issues that they face in employment.  Working Families also conducts research on flexible working issues, promotes good employment practice, and seeks the views of our employer members in responding to policy proposals.

Our response to the Green Paper focuses on Chapter 5: Family relationships and employment, and particularly addresses consultation question 2 “What issues should be prioritised by Government in seeking to strengthen families and support family relationships in this country?”

The priorities for families in employment
Below we set out our priorities: supporting fathers, supporting parents of disabled children, changing workplace cultures, extending parental leave and improving childcare.

1          Supporting fathers

We are pleased to see the emphasis in the Green Paper on fathers’ caring roles and welcome the proposals to review the notice period for paternity leave and explore the barriers to fathers taking paternity leave.  Working Families’ survey of 500 parents in December 2009 – January 2010 found:

• 4 out of 10 fathers don’t take paternity leave
• 72 per cent of those who did not take leave gave the reason that they could not afford to take it
• 14 per cent of those who did not take leave gave the reason that they didn’t have enough length of service with their employer
• 13 per cent could not take paternity leave because they were self employed and not entitled to paid leave.

The biggest barrier to taking paternity leave is that the level of pay is too low, but fathers also faced cultural barriers and employer reluctance as the comments below show:

“My baby was four weeks early and it wasn’t ‘convenient’ with the company as there were lots of people on holiday”

“My partner took paternity leave but his boss made him go back after a week and he wasn’t paid anything at all, despite being with the company for four years”

“My husband’s company made it difficult for him to take the time off – he’s a manager and even though he was entitled to it, it’s a case of if he did take two weeks off, someone else would have basically replaced him”.

Priorities for change:

a)         increase the pay for statutory paternity (and maternity) pay
Paying statutory maternity and paternity pay at below the national minimum wage level sends a poor message to families about the value that is placed on them taking time off to care.  However, there is also an inequity in paying women 90% of their salary for the first six weeks of leave, while all of paternity pay is at the flat rate (currently £124.88).  Working Families’ “Take Up, Top Up” campaign 2010 urges more fathers to take up their paternity leave rights and encourages employers to “top up” statutory payments to the full wage for fathers on paternity leave.  We have some examples of employer members who already top up paternity pay.  Working Families recommends that fathers on ordinary paternity leave are paid at 90% of their salary for the two weeks of leave. This will address the major barrier to fathers taking time off, and over time may contribute to redressing the gender inequalities that arise from mothers’ time out of the labour market.

b)        change eligibility requirements for paternity leave and pay
All mothers, regardless of employment status or service requirements, are entitled to a full year of maternity leave and most mothers in work will be able to access 39 weeks of pay from Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance. However, a father must have worked continuously for an employer for 26 weeks by the end of the 15^th week before the baby is due to be eligible for statutory paternity leave and must also meet an earnings requirement to be eligible for statutory paternity pay.

 It is important that the inequalities that face fathers in work are addressed so that all fathers are entitled to time off when a new baby arrives and to similar arrangements for pay. Working Families recommends that a paternity allowance is introduced for self-employed fathers and those in work who do not meet the SPP requirements.   We recommend that all fathers, regardless of their length of service or employment status, are entitled to a period of paternity leave.

c)         reduce the notice period for statutory paternity leave and pay.
Currently fathers wishing to take ordinary paternity leave should give notice to their employer by the end of the 15^th week before their baby is born.  Experience from our free legal helpline shows that many men are unaware of this long notice period and this means they can miss out.  While employers should consider requests outside this timeframe, paternity leave can be refused if notice requirements are not met and no reasonable excuse is given.  Despite the short length of ordinary paternity leave that may be taken – one or two consecutive weeks - the 15 week notice period is out of kilter with other notice periods for leave.      For example, the rules on asking for annual leave are that an employee should give twice the number of days notice as the number of days leave taken.  A 21 day notice period is required for four weeks of parental leave.   The new Additional Paternity Leave will have an eight week notice requirement for a leave period of up to 26 weeks.  Working Families recommends that the notice period for ordinary paternity leave is brought in line with annual leave notice periods ie two weeks’ notice for one week’s leave and four weeks’ notice for two weeks’ leave.

One of our employer members agreed that “the current notice requirement for paternity leave is out of proportion with the amount of time that can be taken off” but thought making notice equivalent to holiday notice would be “too short and could cause operational difficulties within the business.”.  They recommended “an 8 week notice period which is still at least half the notice period currently required”.   In contrast, another of our employer members advises their fathers that, where possible, they should provide at least one week’s notice of the dates they will be absent from work.

d)        encourage employers to support fathers in work
We are pleased to see the Government awareness raising campaign “Dads at Work” running in March 2010 to increase fathers’ awareness of their paternity and flexible working rights.  We also welcome the publication of a “Think Fathers” practice guide and improvements to Businesslink.gov to help employers introduce family-friendly working practices.  However, we would also urge the Government to promote widely the new “Additional Paternity Leave and Pay” in the lead up to April 2011 and to portray it as of importance to fathers and employers.  We have been disappointed by comments from the Business Department which appear to minimise rather than celebrate the new scheme.  For example

The scheme has been designed in a way that minimises the administrative burdens on business. In order to give employers time to adjust it will be introduced for parents of children due on or after 3 April 2011. Estimated take-up of Additional Paternity Leave is less than 6 per cent and it is estimated that take up will affect 0.7 per cent, or 1 in every 137, of all small businesses.  (BIS press release 15.9.2009)

As the Green Paper notes, many factors determine fathers’ decisions to take leave around the time of the birth, including concerns about employers’ views.  Employers may be less resistant to fathers asking for several months of leave if there is a clear steer from the Government about how valuable this is to the family and wider society.

2          Supporting parents of disabled children

Working Families’ Waving not drowning network of parents of disabled children who work or wish to work has identified a number of issues which the Government should address.

First, entrance into work is difficult when the right to request flexible work only applies after an employee has been in work for 26 weeks.  Many parents of disabled children cannot offer full time working hours, but desperately want to work.  We welcome the Government’s recent endorsement of the Family Friendly Working Hours Taskforce findings and the commitment to increase the number of public sector jobs that are advertised on a flexible or part time basis.  Working Families recommends that all employers be encouraged to discuss hours at the recruitment stage, and that all jobs should be advertised flexibly unless there are sound business reasons why not.

Second, flexibility in work needs to be improved.    Many parents report that they seek more flexibility in the workplace to allow them to cope with the demands of caring.   Rather than a fixed change to their working hours, parents may need the ability to take time off for short periods to accompany their children to hospital appointments (which are invariably during the working day).  

Working parents of disabled children who have been with their employer for at least a year are entitled to 18 weeks of unpaid parental leave, which can be taken on a day by day basis, over a period of 18 years.  However, some working parents find this is not enough to cope with accompanying their child to many clinical and other appointments as well as covering any shortfalls in holiday care arrangements. The 21 day notice period is inappropriate for parental leave for disabled children: hospital appointments are often changed at less than 21 days notice.  However, it is difficult to argue that planned hospital appointments would count as emergency “time off for dependants” instead.  Furthermore, many parents of disabled children are already in poverty, and taking many days of unpaid leave creates more hardship.

A caller asked for advice for her husband.  She was having a one day operation in 16 days’ time which would mean she cannot lift for six weeks. She has two young children, one of whom is disabled.  Her husband explained to his employer three weeks before that he would need time off to look after the children. His employer initially said "no problem", but subsequently scheduled her husband for work the day of the surgery and the days immediately after, and refused to confirm arrangements for the rota thereafter.  As the operation was by then within 21 days, he could no longer give adequate notice for parental leave (the employer might agree to parental leave starting earlier, but doesn’t have to). Otherwise he could only take a couple of days of time off for dependants.

The right to parental leave until a child has a diagnosis of disability is only to 13 weeks, to be taken on a weekly basis, with 21 days notice to the employer.  Yet the process of making a diagnosis can mean many time consuming appointments, and parents are reliant on understanding employers during this time, particularly if they have not been in work for the required year before being entitled to parental leave.

Parents of disabled children should not have to lose wages to take their children to hospital and other appointments.  The 21 day notice period for parental leave should be amended.   

One employer member suggested that the 21 day notice period should be amended where requests were for occasional days – up to a maximum of two days’ leave at a time.  Further recommendations about parental leave are set out below.

When a disabled child reaches the age of 18, there is no equivalent to carers’ leave for the parent, yet the care needs may be just as onerous. Working Families recommends that there should be an equivalent “carers leave” for parents or carers of older relatives.  When carers need leave and do not want a permanent change to their working hours, they have few rights that they can exercise.  Allowing carers to access leave – along the lines of the parental leave arrangements for disabled children - would help many carers of disabled children over 18 stay in work and support the short term or infrequent needs of the cared-for person for support.

3          Changing workplace culture

Working Families welcomes the Green Paper proposals to promote awareness among employers and employees of family friendly employment rights and good practice.  It is important that parents know their rights, and that employers are encouraged to respond to the needs of parents and carers.  However, it is our experience that workplace cultures often dictate employers’ receptiveness to requests to work flexibly.  The Green Paper acknowledges disparities in access to flexible working across sectors and the difficulties faced by men making requests.  It also notes that a lack of flexible work may mean parents have to drop out of the labour market altogether. In respect of parents of disabled children “it is all the more important that opportunities to work flexibly are made as widely available and accessible to families as possible”. A step change in flexible working is now needed to ensure that the demand for flexible jobs is met.

Working Families suggests that an over-emphasis on family friendly rights may detract from the wider benefits that flexible working can bring to workplace cultures. While parents and carers may be the main beneficiaries, it is not only families with children that benefit from flexible working.  There is an increasing body of evidence that suggests that employers should take the wellbeing of all their employees seriously, and that flexible working can be an effective tool in reducing stress at work.  People with mental or physical disabilities may require flexible working practices.  Grandparents may want changes in their hours to allow them to care for grandchildren but currently have no right to request flexible working.  The Green Paper acknowledges that they should be able to access the same services and support as parents, if they are offering childcare.  Our research[1]  shows that employees of all ages want flexible working arrangements, although the nature of that flexibility may change according to age and career choices.

The business benefits of flexible working are widely acknowledged to include reduced absenteeism, reduced sickness and recruitment costs, improved engagement and job satisfaction, and improved employee performance.  These benefits are not limited to parents.  However, many employers still see the right to request flexible working as a concession that should be granted to keep particular groups (especially mothers) in employment.  This attitude detracts from their ability to pursue the wider business benefits that changing working culture can bring.

Many of Working Families’ employer members already offer flexible working to all their employees and parents in these organisations benefit.  Our research “Flexible Working and Performance” with Cranfield University School of Management showed flexible working was more culturally acceptable when it was available to all employees regardless of their personal circumstances.  

Working Families recommends that the right to request flexible working be extended to all employees to bring about the cultural shift necessary for flexible working to reach its potential. Offering flexibility to all will make it easier for parents to make requests, and encourage more employers to tap into the business benefits that can accrue from changing working cultures.

4          Improving parental leave for parents of older children

Working Families welcomes the proposal to consider whether parents should be able to take parental leave when their children are older than five years of age.  We urge that any consultation on this issue also looks at how parental leave could be improved so more parents can access it.  The current notice period of 21 days means parental leave – even for those currently entitled to it -   does not fill the gap between time off for dependants and longer leave which may be needed to care for a sick child.  Some parents calling our helpline report that they are disciplined when they take more than a few days leave as employers challenge employees’ views as to what is “reasonable” time off.

Many parents need short term flexibility to cope with critical points in family life, and the right to request flexible working (with the permanent change in contract involved) is not always appropriate.  For example, we have had callers who need to take time off to supervise children excluded from school, to cope with family breakdown or to deal with bereavement.  These parents may benefit from parental leave.  One of our employer members noted “we do get a lot of requests to take parental leave in odd days”.

Working Families recommends that parental leave is both extended to parents of older children and amended.  More parents would benefit if notice periods were reduced and if parental leave was available on a more flexible basis – we recommend that all parents should be able to take parental leave on a day rather than week basis.   We recognise that a request for an extended period of 13 weeks’ leave needs to take into account the employer’s need to plan.  However, a shorter notice period – perhaps relating the days’ notice to the weeks’ leave that is requested, up to a maximum of 21 days – would allow families in urgent need to care for their children: they could take unpaid leave without facing penalties, adding on the parental leave to emergency leave if necessary.  We would also welcome an extension of this right to parents in work for less than a year.  Fathers who may have changed jobs before their child is born are not eligible for paternity leave if they have not been with their employer for 26 weeks by the 15^th week before the baby is due, and also cannot access parental leave as an alternative.

5          Improving Childcare                              

Our research in 2009 on summer holiday childcare for disabled children revealed that there are still significant gaps to be filled before the “wrap around” childcare from 8 am to 6 pm is available to all parents:  69% of parents surveyed were not satisfied with the care available and 28% of parents said they had no information about summer childcare.    We welcome the pilots to strengthen childcare provision in the school holidays and the provision of more information.  However, much holiday childcare is available only for short hours, and does not meet the needs of working parents.  The high cost of childcare still acts as a disincentive to work.

Many of our callers work outside the usual 9 am to 5 pm pattern of care, and finding any formal childcare for such groups is difficult.  Parents who are required to work weekend shifts find formal childcare almost impossible, and when employers insist on changes to shift patterns, some parents face the choice of leaving their jobs or leaving their children at home alone.

We welcome the Green Paper’s promise to monitor closely childcare provision and consider whether further improvements are needed.  Working Families would welcome a much more flexible approach from childcare providers to ensure that the hours offered match the hours that parents are at work, including evenings and weekends and during school holidays.

We also welcome an online eligibility checker for parents to establish what financial assistance they may be entitled to for their childcare.  It can take our expert helpline advisers many hours to work out whether a parent may be better off taking childcare vouchers from their employer or receiving support from the childcare element of working tax credits.  There is an urgent need for simplifying childcare support, and it should be made very clear how much of a tax credit award is to support childcare costs.  Working Families recommends changing the state’s contribution to childcare costs via tax credits to 100% (not 80% as now) to simplify the system and help low income families.   The tax and benefits system should also make awards for shorter fixed periods to make it more responsive to the frequent changes in hours of work or childcare that are the reality for many parents today.

Working Families April 2010