NEW LAWS FOR WORKING PARENTS: MONITORING THE
IMPACT
What
are the
new laws?
New
employment laws came into force on 6 April 2003 to provide parents with more
choice and support to help balance their work and childcare responsibilities in
ways that benefit everyone: employees, their children and employers.
The
measures include:
The
flexible working law enables parents with a child under 6 or a disabled child
under 18 to make a request for flexible working, and places a duty on employers
to consider such requests seriously and only to reject them for good business
reasons.
Why
a monitoring strategy?
As
the flexible working law is new in concept and approach it is vital that we
measure its impact. We want to ensure that the policy itself and the ‘light
touch’ approach is working for employers and employees.
We
are committed to start a review of the law in 2006, and we also need to see how
successfully we have met our overall objectives for all the new laws.
We
will need evidence to ensure:
-
we
are providing effective ongoing guidance and support
-
there
are high levels of awareness of all the new laws
-
we
have early warning of any problems or unintended consequences
-
we
have a firm basis for the review and the development of policies aimed at
working parents
A
key aim of the strategy is the active engagement of interested parties in the
monitoring process, to encourage their support for the flexible working law and
to help promote the spread of best practice.
What
we’re doing
We
will develop an information base by gathering both quantitative and
qualitative evidence.
We will use formal research surveys to gain statistical data and will
work closely with stakeholders for anecdotal feedback.
Key
activities include:
-
Extensive
work-life balance surveys of employers and employees in 2003 to serve as a
baseline for comparison with repeat surveys in 2006
-
Insertion
of questions on flexible working in formal surveys being carried out over
the three years to gather data from
employers and employees on both actual working practices and
attitudes
-
Working
with key organisations to carry out focus groups and questionnaire surveys
targeting specific groups
-
A
mechanism for regular feedback on emerging issues from both employer and
employee representatives
Working
with other Government departments to gather information on the impact of their
policies on the take-up of the new laws
What
you can do
The
new flexible working law aims to help everyone.
The review in three years’ time will examine the evidence to see
whether or not it has met this objective.
“The
new laws were developed as a collective endeavour with trade unions, family
groups and large and small business.
It is vital to continue this partnership to ensure that the laws work
effectively. Sharing experiences will help us ensure that employers and working
parents can identify flexible working solutions that suit them both.”
Patricia
Hewitt, Secretary of State
We
are already gathering evidence on how the new laws are actually working, and
will continue to do so as an ongoing process.
Whether you are an employee, an employer, a union or other
representative, we need your input to help us know both where the law has worked
well and where it has not been as effective.
Send
your feedback to: workingparents@dti.gsi.gov.uk
Help
and advice on all the new laws is available from the Acas
helpline on 08457 47 47 47.
Working
Parents homepage
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Interactive Guidance on Employment Rights (TIGER)
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