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Work and Families: Choice and
Flexibility
The
Government is committed to ensuring that every child has the best start in life
and to creating more choice for all parents. We also want to support employers
in recruiting and retaining the best people. Following extensive consultation on
the proposals set out in the Ten Year Childcare Strategy we are:
- Extending maternity and
adoption pay from six to nine months from April 2007, towards the goal of a
year's paid leave by the end of the Parliament.
-
Extending the right to request flexible working to carers of
adults from April 2007.
- Giving fathers
a right to upto 26 weeks Additional
Paternity Leave some of which could be paid, if the mother returns to work. A
further consultation in early February 2006 will explore how the scheme will
be developed.
-
Introducing measures to help employers manage the administration
of leave and pay and plan ahead with greater certainty from April 2007;
-
Helping employers and employees benefit from improved
communication during maternity leave.
The first step towards this goal is the
Work and Families Bill.
The
Government has now published draft regulations to deliver the commitments on
extending the right to request flexible working to carers of adults and to bring
in the maternity and adoption leave measures announced in the Government
Response to the Consultation. The
draft regulations (word
version) are
published alongside a short consultation document. The closing date for any
comments is 18 April 2006.
The Government
response to the Work and Families: Choice and Flexibility consultation and the RIA is available below, alongside a summary
of individual responses and other relevant documents.
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