The details of this new system are not yet fixed; the Government will consult on them during 2014, but it has already confirmed that parents will be required to provide a self - certified notice of their leave entitlement to their employers, giving a minimum of eight weeks» notice of intention to
take flexible parental leave.
Not exact matches
Flexible parental leave must be
taken in a minimum of one - week blocks.
Mums and dads on
flexible parental leave will be able to
take the leave in turns or together, provided they
take no more than 52 weeks combined in total.
Under the new system, employed mothers will still be entitled to 52 weeks of maternity leave, but will now be able to opt to end the maternity leave after two weeks, and transfer onto
flexible parental leave — which can be
taken by either parent.
It follows an announcement last year in which the government said that from April 2015 parents will have a fully
flexible choice over how they split their 52 week
parental leave entitlement - other than the first fortnight, which the mother must
take.
Employers can also
take steps to help fathers address conflict, such as forming employee networks for fathers, promoting training, offering
flexible work arrangements and providing gender - neutral
parental leave.
The government is not alone in looking for ways to help reconcile the challenges facing working families with young children, with the Liberal Democrats proposing 19 months of more generous
parental leave (able to be
taken by any parent) and the Conservative Party proposing
flexible parental leave to help make Britain more family friendly.
Liberals: Create a
flexible parental benefits plan allowing parents to receive benefits in smaller blocks of time — for example, once every two weeks rather than once per month — and make it possible for parents to
take a longer leave — up to 18 months when combined with maternity benefits, although at a lower benefit level; scrap the Universal Child Care Benefit for the wealthiest families, and instead introduce the Canada Child Benefit that will give the majority of families up to $ 2,500 more, tax - free, every year (typically for a family of four).
The Liberal party has also touted a
flexible parental benefits plan allowing parents to receive benefits in smaller blocks of time — for example, once every two weeks rather than once per month — and make it possible for parents to
take a longer leave — up to 18 months when combined with maternity benefits, although at a lower benefit level.
Deputy PM Nick Clegg has announced new proposals on
flexible parental leave which could see fathers
taking over childcare after six weeks.
promoting greater awareness /
take - up of Shared
Parental Leave, maternity rights and the right to request
flexible working