2.6 million carers set to benefit from right to request flexible working

Department of Trade and Industry; Government News Network; INDUSTRY

Reference P/2007/78

DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY News Release (Reference P/2007/78)

issued by The Government News Network on 5 April 2007


ABSTRACT

From tomorrow 2.6 million carers across the UK stand to benefit from the right to request flexible working to help them manage their work and caring responsibilities thanks to the Work and Families Act.

FULL TEXT

From tomorrow 2.6 million carers across the UK stand to benefit from the right to request flexible working to help them manage their work and caring responsibilities thanks to the
Work and Families Act.

Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling said:

"Over 2.65m carers will have the right to request flexible working for the first time. It will make a real difference to those who give so much. It takes the number of people with this right to more than six million since it was first introduced in 2003 for parents of young and disabled children.

"Those rights are being worked through closely with business, who increasingly realise flexible working makes sense for them.

"Flexible working for carers is right for business, right for families and is at the centre of the modern work-life balance economy."

Other family friendly measures previously introduced include;

* extending paid maternity and adoption leave to 9 months;

* introducing two weeks paid paternity leave;

* up to 13 weeks parental leave for parents of young and disabled children; and:

* the right to a reasonable amount of unpaid time off work to deal with any emergency involving a dependant. The defintion of Carer will be an employee who is or expects to be caring for an adult who:

* is married to, or the partner or civil partner of the employee; or

* is a near relative of the employee; or

* falls into neither category but lives at the same address as the employee.

The definition of a relative includes parents, parents-in-law, adult child, adopted adult child, siblings (including those who are in-laws), uncles, aunts or grandparents and step-relatives.

Notes to editors

1. This is part of a package of family friendly measures introduced in the Work and Families Act 2006. These include;

* nine months Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay and Maternity Allowance from April 2007 with the ambition to increase this to a year's paid leave by the end of the Parliament. It is estimated that about 400,000 mothers per year will benefit from this;

* a new right to an additional period of paternity leave for fathers, which will be introduced alongside the extension of Statutory Maternity Pay, Adoption Pay and Maternity Allowance to 12 months. This will enable them to benefit from leave and statutory pay if the mother returns to work after six months but before the end of her maternity leave period. It is estimated that between 240,000 and 280,000 fathers will benefit from this; and

* the introduction of 'Keeping in Touch' days so that where employees and employers agree, a women on maternity leave can go into work for a few days, without losing her right to maternity leave or a week's statutory pay.
Under the new Work and Families legislation businesses will benefit from:

* measures to help them better manage the administration of Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay and Statutory Adoption Pay;

* a two month notice period for women changing their return to work dates from maternity leave. This will allow employees and employers to plan more effectively for return to work; and,

* clarity that employers can make reasonable contact with their employees on maternity leave to help them with planning and easing the mother's return to work.

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April 5, 2007