The government’s strong commitment to the expansion of workers’ rights shows no sign of easing up and has received fresh impetus with the publication of the Work and Families Bill.

Should the Bill become law, as it surely will, it will bring about an extension of existing maternity and paternity rights and new rights for carers. Here are the proposals:

• New fathers may currently claim two-weeks paid paternity leave. The new Bill paves the way for new fathers to be given additional, paid paternity leave of up to 26 weeks, to be taken during the first year of the baby’s life. This additional period of leave would be able to be taken in circumstances which are to be explained in regulations to be made under the Bill.

• Currently all pregnant employees qualify for 26 weeks ordinary maternity leave.

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is paid to those women who have worked for their employer for a continuous period of 26 weeks ending with the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth, and whose average weekly earnings in the eight weeks leading up to that 15th week have been at least equal to the NI lower earnings limit.

Under the Bill, the maximum period for which SMP (and the maternity allowance, paid to those who do not qualify for SMP) will be extended to 52 weeks. The government aims in due course to make SMP payable for the full 52 weeks, but in the first instance, its intention is to increase the period to 39 weeks applying to women who are pregnant from April 1, 2007.

• The current position on flexible working is that parents and adoptive parents of children up to the age of six have the right to go to their employer and propose some sort of ‘flexible’ working arrangements which would allow them to spend more time looking after their young children. Employers are under no legal obligation to agree to whatever proposal is put to them but they are required to treat applications seriously and are expected to accommodate them unless there are good business reasons for refusing them.

The government has decided to adopt a plan for the right to work flexibly to be extended to carers, i.e. those who have personal responsibility to look after an individual over the age of 18. This could mean that any worker who has responsibilities in respect of an elderly parent, or a disabled adult child, will have the right to ask to work flexibly on the same basis as new parents.

• The bill does not make any immediate changes to the current annual leave provisions, but does give power to the government to vary them. There has been speculation that this power will be used to fulfil Labour’s manifesto commitment to make clear to employers that they may not include bank holidays in the period of leave which they afford to their staff.

• Under another proposal, where employees and employers agree, a woman on maternity leave will be able to go into work for a few days at a time, without losing her right to maternity leave or pay.

Also of possible benefit to companies is that employers will be entitled to make reasonable contact with their employees on maternity leave in order to help employers plan and ease the mother’s return to work.

All of these changes are likely to take effect from 2007, and as with the other elements of the government’s family-friendly agenda, there will be no general exemption for small firms, which are often least well equipped to cope with staff absences. l

John Davies is head of business law at the ACCA.