Parental Leave Pay
Maternity and paternity leave and pay offer crucial benefits to both parents and children. I believe that we should support parents to make balanced childcare choices that work for their family situation, including enabling co-parenting, and providing flexibility to reflect the realities of modern work and childcare needs.
Currently, one in three dads do not take paternity leave because they can’t afford to, while the take-up of shared parental leave remains very low. The system is complicated, does not always give people the support they need, and must modernise to deliver for today’s families. Research shows that better parental leave can also help to close the gender pay gap and boost wider economic growth by enabling more parents to stay in work and advance in their careers after starting a family.
That is why I welcome that in July, the Government announced the launch of a landmark full review of parental leave and pay to better support working families and help children get the best start in life. I understand that all parental pay entitlements will be considered as part of the review process. The review will run for 18 months, gathering views from parents, employers, and experts across the country, and will end with a roadmap for possible reforms.
I further welcome that this review is part of an ambitious agenda to overhaul workers’ rights and make work pay, including by ensuring there is more flexibility and security for working families. This includes making parental leave a day one right, as part of the Employment Rights Bill that I am backing as it makes its way through Parliament. It also includes making flexible working the default, to ensure more flexible working requests are agreed. We must support workers to balance their work with the essential responsibilities of their wider lives, including looking after children.
In the meantime, I know that statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance play a vital role for expectant and new mothers. The rates of these payments are reviewed annually, and I recently backed an inflation-linked increase to them from April 2025. This comes on top of the 6.7% increase for the financial year 2024/25. While I appreciate you would like to see further increases, any such changes would need to balance the needs of parents, the impact on business and the availability of resources.
I will continue to monitor developments on this issue and look forward to following the progress the Government makes in delivering the review. It is crucial that we strengthen parental leave so that we provide the best possible support for parents balancing their work and home lives.