Government to make family friendly legislation pledge

New legislation giving working families greater flexibility to manage their professional and private lives are be introduced in Northern Ireland, the Government has confirmed.

The "Work and Families Bill", which has already been introduced in Great Britain, will see the extension of Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance to nine months from April 2007, with the aim of extending this to a year.

NIO Minister Angela Smith said: "The 'work and families' measures currently under consideration at Westminster are designed to provide support for those with caring responsibilities, to give them greater choice in how they balance work and home.

"Consultation in Northern Ireland showed broad support for this family-friendly approach and I feel that it is important that employees in Northern Ireland are given the same opportunities as those in Great Britain."

The package of family-friendly measures will include:

• a power to introduce new paternity leave for fathers, enabling 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;
• the right to request flexible working for carers from April 2007;
• measures to help businesses manage the administration of Statutory Maternity, Paternity and Adoption Pay;
• the introduction of 'keeping in touch' days so that, where employees and employers agree, a woman on maternity leave can go into work for a few days without losing her right to maternity leave or a week's statutory pay;
• extending the period of notice for return from maternity leave to two months, enabling employees and employers to plan more effectively for return to work;
• making clear that employers can make reasonable contact with their employees on maternity leave to help employers plan and ease the mother's return to work.

Assuring the local business community that the new legislation being introduced here will include measures designed to help businesses manage the changes, Angela Smith concluded: "I fully recognise that it is important to make any new legislation manageable for employers, particularly small businesses.

"The package of measures contains a number of provisions designed to help employers deal with employees taking time off to give their child the best start in life."

(MB/SP)