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Your client’s employee is not alone in their struggles. According to data from the Bright Horizons’ annual Modern Families Index, 74% of working mothers surveyed said that they felt they carried the mental load for parenting, which has a detrimental impact on their mental health, work and home life. Not only that, but gender inequity remains an issue; working mothers feel that working flexibly makes them less able to progress their careers than working fathers (63% vs 71%).
Changes to the law due to come into effect from April 2024 will provide more support to working parents. To be effective, these will need to work alongside employer support to combat the concerns of working mothers.
Firstly, there are changes to paternity leave on the way. These are set to become law very soon and come into force on 6 April 2024. Currently, paternity leave is taken in one single block of one or two weeks, within 56 days of birth or adoption. Under the changes, employees will be able to take either two separate single week periods of leave, or a single period of two weeks. They will have up to 52 weeks after birth or adoption to take the leave.
The changes will apply where the expected week of childbirth is after 6 April 2024, or the expected date of placement for adoption is on or after that date. Depending when the child is placed with the employee’s family, this extended paternity leave could be of help to the employee.
Regarding redundancy, they should not suffer a detriment for taking any type of family friendly. From 6 April 2024, they will get even greater protections during redundancy if they were to take adoption leave. Currently, the law provides for a ‘protected period’ during redundancy, where employees on certain types of family related leave are given priority over others for suitable alternative employment. However, for employees on maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave ending on or after 6 April 2024, or who are pregnant on or after that date, this protected period will be extended to during pregnancy, and up to 18 months after birth or adoption.
A brand-new right will also be available from 6 April 2024. Carer’s leave will be available to employees who act as unpaid carer’s. They will be able to take up to one week per year to provide or arrange care for a dependant who has a long-term impairment, from the first day of employment. It’s likely the employee’s Aunt will fall within this definition.
Finally, flexible working is also going to change. From 6 April 2024, from the first day of employment all employees (not just parents or carers) will be able to make a request for flexible working.
Additionally (although the following changes still need to be confirmed but are expected to apply from 6 April 2024), employees will be able to make two requests in any 12-month period. Also, unless agreed otherwise, the entire process should take no more than 2 months. There will also no longer be a requirement for the employee to explain how their request would impact their employer, and employers will have to consult first with the requesting employee before refusing them.
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