Government says no to £2 billion bill for pregnant woment

Employers are likely to be breathing a sigh of relief after Edward Davey, the Minister for Employment Relations confirmed that he will be lobbying against the European Parliaments proposed 20 weeks of maternity pay at full pay stating that it would impose an unacceptable estimated cost of £2billion on the government.

The main proposals under the Pregnant Workers Directive were that the minimum period of leave would be increased from the current UK minimum of 2 weeks to a proposed 14 weeks to 20 weeks, giving women full pay for the minimum 20 week period and introducing two weeks fully paid paternity leave.

The UK government were also opposed on the basis that the proposals were socially regressive as even though all women who earn over £124.88 per, the UK’s current flat rate of maternity pay (which will increase in April) would be better off under the European Parliament’s proposals, it would be of a greater benefit to those with higher earnings.

Currently those on the lowest of incomes generally receive more of their salary over the course of their maternity leave. For example, someone on £10,000 a year will receive 69% of their salary as their total maternity pay whereas those earning £60,000 would only receive 23%.

Another reason put forward for opposing the proposals, other than the huge estimated cost, is that the “rigid” model proposed would make it harder for shared parental leave, something which the government has committed to introduce.