Recommendation 1

The Government’s response has argued that the UK’s maternity leave offer is already amongst the most generous in the world. Although up to 52 weeks leave is generous compared to other countries, the amount of maternity pay is not the most generous in the world. While we accept that other more generous schemes are often not funded by the state, it remains the case that many new mothers in the UK can’t afford to take their full leave entitlement. Successive governments have not examined systematically enough the scale of take-up of the full maternity leave available, and reasons for not taking their full entitlements. This would better enable us to consider the suitability of current arrangements. The Government should capture data on the uptake of parental leave, as well as pay, so that any future review of parental leave arrangements can consider the extent to which parents from all groups are able to use their entitlements.