The government has launched a consultation on plans to introduce a new system of flexible parental leave from 2015 as part of a strategy to create a “modern workplace for the modern economy”.

Under the proposals, once the early weeks of maternity and paternity leave have ended, parents can share the overall leave allowance between them. In a change to the current system, this leave could be taken in a number of different blocks and both parents could take leave at the same time. Employers can ensure that the leave must be taken in one continuous period if agreement cannot be reached. They will be able to ask staff to return for short periods to meet peaks in demand or to require that leave is taken in one continuous block, depending on business requirements.

The ‘Modern Workplaces’ consultation aims to build a new consensus around greater flexibility, which also includes plans to extend the right to request flexible working to all employees.

Proposals include:

Parental Leave

• 18 weeks maternity leave and pay – in one continuous block around birth.
• Four weeks of parental leave and pay exclusive to each parent to be taken in the first year.
• 30 weeks of additional parental leave available to either parent - of which 17 weeks would be paid and can be broken in blocks between parents.

Flexible Working

• Extending the right to request for all workers who have been with their employer for 26 weeks.
• The government will consider publishing a statutory Code of Practice for businesses and will propose that employers should be allowed to take into account employees individual circumstances when considering conflicting requests.
• There are no plans to alter the current eight business reasons for a business to turn down a request.
• The government recognises that legislation is not the only answer to promoting flexible working practices. Non-legislative measures are being developed to promote flexible working opportunities both for those with a job and for those looking for one.

Equal Pay

• Employment Tribunals that have found an employer to have discriminated on gender in relation to pay, will order the employer to conduct a pay audit and publish their their results. Except in some circumstances, such as where an audit has already been conducted.

Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities Theresa May, says: “Britain’s workplace laws are in need of modernisation. We have made great strides in addressing explicit discrimination in the workplace, but disadvantage persists. The solution to these challenges, though, is not more bureaucracy, top-down intervention and politically correct quotas, but policies that go with the grain of human nature and maximise flexibility and choice. That is why we will extend the right to request flexible working to all and introduce a new system of flexible parental leave both of which will contribute to our commitment to closing down the gender pay gap. But where there is evidence of discrimination we will punish it, so we will introduce mandatory pay audits for companies that are found guilty of pay discrimination.”

Michelle Quest, head of people at KPMG, says: “These proposals are good for employers, individuals and the economy.  They put forward some important ideas, which we are fully supportive of.  Extending the right of all employees to make flexible working requests is surely right – flexible working is an issue for men and non-parents as well as for women.  At KPMG for example, over a third of employees that work flexibly are men.  We have operated a system where anyone can request a flexible working arrangement for a number of years now, and it has worked very successfully.”

Jackie Orme, CIPD chief executive, says: “We welcome the principles and ambitions behind these proposals.  The phrase ‘work/life balance’ assumes that there is a clear and impermeable divide between work and life.  In reality, working lives and home lives overlap in today’s world to a greater degree than ever before.

“At the same time, traditional gender roles in relation to parenting are changing.  That fact has been recognised, but not resolved, by policymakers and business leaders alike.  And it is important in the context of this consultation.  It is simply not possible for influential voices in the business lobby to be, at once, firmly in favour of getting more women on to boards and closing the gender pay gap, as I am; against crude instruments such as quotas and compulsory pay audits, as I also am; but simultaneously against light-touch measures to support change to cultural norms that force able women to make choices between careers that fully utilise their talents and their roles as parents. These are choices that men are not traditionally required to make in the same way.  Although that fact is beginning to change, the inflexibility of existing maternity regulations and the way they support cultural norms acts as a brake on progress.”

Katja Hall, CBI chief policy director, says: “The absolute priority for the country today is to grow businesses and create jobs. This is how we will judge the merits of these proposals as we consult with companies.

“Employees and employers often informally agree working patterns that suit both parties and the government is right to look at ways of encouraging this by removing unnecessary bureaucracy.”