1. NatCen Briefing: Reconciling Parenthood and Work Mari Toomse, Research Director, Mari.Toomse@natcen.ac.uk Eloise Poole, Senior Researcher, Eloise.Poole@natcen.ac.uk
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3. Recent policy context Work and Families Act 2006 Extension of Paternity Leave April 2011 Modern Workplaces Consultation 2011 Focus is shifting towards shared parenting
4. Aims of research Examine the effect of legislative changes on take up of maternity pay and leave and return to work Identify differences between groups of mothers Identify choices and constraints for not returning Examine take up of paternity leave and pay
5. Study overview Maternity and Paternity Rights and Women Returners Survey Funded by DWP and BIS Face-to-face survey of mothers Telephone survey of fathers Fieldwork conducted in 2009/10 Babies born May to September 2008 Sample from Child Benefit records
6. Publication of findings DWP Research Report 777: Maternity and Paternity Rights and Women Returners http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2011-2012/rrep777.pdf Research Summary Data in the UK Data Archive
39. Conclusion Work and Families Act 2006 has enabled mothers to take longer leave Evidence on impact on return to work is not clear Differences between mothers in length of leave taken have decreased However, differences in return to work have increased
40. Conclusion Fathers are taking time off before birth After birth many fathers are taking more than their statutory entitlement after birth Indicates appetite among fathers to be more involved
41. Conclusion Majority of time fathers take off before birth is paid Majority of fathers receive some paternity leave at full pay Affordability main reason for non take-up Most mothers have returned to work by the time their SMP/MA entitlement has ended Financial considerations are important for many parents
42. For discussion How can this evidence help in developing the system of shared parental leave?
Paternity Rights have so far been limited compared to Maternity Rights.
Looking at mothers taking longer periods of leave (that is periods of leave 40 weeks or more) we can also see a large increase between 2006 and 2008. The take-up of longer leave amongst mothers did vary by various characteristics, though many of the observed differences of mothers taking longer leave are less in 2008 than in 2006.
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