Academics from the University of Bath have joined with the national charity Working Families to call for a comprehensive review of parental leave, including the maternity, paternity and shared parental leave and pay framework.
In an open letter addressed to Justin Madders MP, Minister for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets, Professor Susan Milner and Dr Joanna Clifton-Sprigg from the University of Bath are among 15 academics and 18 organisations advocating for change.
Co-ordinated by Working Families, the UKs national charity for working parents, the signatories, including the TUC, Save the Children, Pregnant then Screwed and The Dad Shift endorses the review promised by the government, but urges it to broaden the scope to ensure real change, including duration, statutory pay levels, eligibility criteria, and the capacity of employers to consider the needs of kinship carers and adoptive parents.
The letter sets out nine key principles for that should underpin future parental leave reform.
Each parent should have an individual right to time off and pay, reserved just for them, which has been shown in other countries to reduce gender inequality.
Maternity leave is important because mothers need to recover from childbirth and establish breastfeeding. Appropriate support for breastfeeding from employers should also be required.
Leave for fathers or partners to care for their infant is important to lay the ground for fathers’ role in caring for children, and should be incentivised.
The system must be simple and easy to understand for both parents and employers while enabling flexibility for parents, including some time off together if that’s what they want.
Time off and pay should be available to all parents (including those classified as ‘workers’ and ‘self-employed’) as an individual right from day one.
Statutory leave and pay levels should be substantially increased and kept in line with the cost of living, to ensure that taking leave is genuinely affordable for all families.
The system should ensure that parents have the right to return to the same job after taking leave, and are protected by law from losing their job during leave or upon return due to discrimination.
Future reform should not come at the expense of existing parental rights and entitlements.
Parental leave and pay policies should work alongside a part-time and flexible by default UK labour market; a more affordable, available childcare system that ensures work pays from the day parents return to work; and a health system that recognises both parents’ unique roles and impacts.
The government has committed in its manifesto to reviewing parental leave arrangements to ensure they meet the needs of working families. While a formal announcement is yet to be made, sources close to the government suggest that the review will be launched by early July.
Research from Dr Joanna Clifton Sprigg and Professor Eleonora Fichera from the Department of Economics published by the Institute for Policy Research (IPR) in September 2024 revealed the shared parental leave policy has failed to deliver for dads.
The study which used data from 40,000 households across the UK, found SPL has not affected the number of fathers taking leave, nor the length of leave they choose to take. The research compared families with children born before and after the SPL rollout and the results are clear – paternal leave uptake has not increased, and the leaves being taken are not longer.
Dr Joanna Clifton-Sprigg from the Department of Economics said:
Our work demonstrates that 10 years on Shared Parental Leave, although conceptually desirable, in practice has not changed decisions of an average household with regards to who is the primary caregiver of the child in their first year of life. This change is needed to help households balance the commitments and address gender inequalities at work. It is also desired as parents are increasingly wanting to be both active in their child’s life right from the start. And they too often simply cannot afford to do so. An improved policy should earmark some leave specifically for fathers, be generously paid, and have less restrictive eligibility criteria to include a wider group of working parents.
Professor Susan Milner from the Department of Politics, Languages & International Studies at the University of Bath said:
Policy in the UK has largely stalled over the past decade. While we have a strong evidence base showing why the current system is falling short, there are still gaps in our understanding—particularly around access to leave. What’s needed now is a comprehensive public debate on how to ensure leave is truly accessible to everyone who needs it.
Professor Eleonora Fichera from the Department of Economics at the University of Bath said:
Our findings indicate that while the introduction of Shared Parental Leave in 2015 aimed to promote shared caregiving responsibilities, the lack of increased paternal leave uptake suggests that mothers may not be receiving the additional support the policy intended.
There is a need to reassess and reform parental leave policies to ensure they provide effective and financially viable support for both parents.
Jane van Zyl, Chief Executive from Working Families, said:
A rethink of the statutory offering to new parents is long overdue to enable mothers and fathers to manage the transition once a baby arrives. Shifting attitudes mean fathers want to play an active role and if we are to achieve gender equality, fathers need the chance to be involved from the get-go. Sadly, statutory rights have struggled to keep up with this change in attitudes. Reform is urgently needed so that families, particularly those without a financial safety net, aren’t forced back to work prematurely and have equal opportunities to spend time with their child in the first, crucial year.