Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 21
21
Deferred
Commit to meaningful reforms of the parental leave system in the medium term
Recommendation
The Government has said the parental leave system is broken and promised to launch a “full review”. It is clear that the system has some fundamental failings, including low statutory pay across the board; inadequate leave periods for fathers and other parents; exclusion of many working parents and guardians; and design flaws and unnecessary complexity in the SPL scheme. We acknowledge that it is not feasible to solve all of these problems overnight. However, we expect the Government’s proposed review to lay the foundation for progress in each of these key areas over the course 60 of this Parliament and in the longer term. Working parents will be let down by a review that leads only to tinkering around the edges of the system. The Government should commit to meaningful reforms in the medium term, followed by an assessment of the impacts at the end of this Parliament, with a view to going further towards a more gender equal parental leave system. (Recommendation, Paragraph 120)
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the failings of the parental leave system and states it has launched a review that is currently in a discovery phase. It commits to publishing findings and a roadmap for potential reforms after the review concludes, rather than committing to specific medium-term reforms or an end-of-Parliament assessment.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
The government recognises that the current system does not support working families as well as it could, as the system of existing parental leave and pay entitlements has grown incrementally over time creating a complex landscape of social security legislation. We therefore welcome the committee’s calls for a “full review” and have delivered on our manifesto commitment to launch a review of the system, wherein all current and upcoming parental leave and pay entitlements will be in scope. The review is underway with a period of discovery to understand the current system and gather evidence and views from stakeholders. This will help us identify where there might be opportunities for improvement. We will want to engage and consult with stakeholders throughout to inform the ongoing work. We have already undertaken a call for evidence and once the review has concluded the government will publish a set of findings and a roadmap, including next steps for taking any potential reforms forward to implementation.