Select committee: Petitions Committee
Recommendation 13
First Report - Impact of Covid-19 on new parents: one year on
Published 7 Oct 2021
Paragraph 49
Petitions Committee Impact of Covid-19 on new parents: one year on All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We welcome the Government’s commitments to tackling workplace discrimination against new and expectant mothers and the actions it is taking to better understand this issue. We echo witnesses’ dismay at the apparent failure of current employment law and the tribunal system to prevent potentially discriminatory redundancies among new and expectant mothers during the pandemic. However, we note these concerns have also previously been expressed by the Women and Equalities 28 Impact of Covid-19 on new parents: one year on Committee as well as in our own report last year, and we support their conclusion that the Government has not taken the necessary preventative actions on this issue— especially in light of its failure to act on the recommendations in our previous report. The Government must swiftly rectify this failing.
From: Petitions Committee, First Report - Impact of Covid-19 on new parents: one year on (HC 479), paragraph 49, 7 October 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 7 March 2022 (deadline 7 December 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government sets out funding and support for new parents but states it "will not be developing an isolated strategy" on the pandemic's impact, and "will not be launching an independent review of childcare at this time".
- On mental health and early years support, it points to existing and announced measures, including £100 million for bespoke mental health support for new and expectant parents and a £500 million families and early years package over three years.
- On redundancy protection, it "remains committed to extending" protections for new and expectant mothers and intends to introduce the measures "as soon as Parliamentary time allows", without giving a date.
- On extending the time limit for employment tribunal claims, it "continues to look closely" at the change but says it "will be given sufficient time for consideration".
- On Maternity Allowance in Universal Credit, it states "We have no plans to change the way that Maternity Allowance is treated in Universal Credit."