Recommendation 31

We acknowledge the Government’s desire to protect a mother’s time with her baby. As such, we recommend that Maternity Allowance is increased for self-employed mothers in the first six weeks to bring it closer in line with Statutory Maternity Pay. This will allow more mothers to spend time with their babies in the early weeks. A very limited number of Keeping in Touch days should be permitted in this period. After six weeks we recommend self- employed mothers be allowed to Keep In Touch with their business as often as necessary. (Recommendation, Paragraph 127)