Government urged to strengthen rights for working parents

The UK Government is being urged to strengthen rights and support for working parents, to avoid women’s equality being set back decades.

Responding to Tuesday’s report by the Woman and Equalities Committee, which sets out how women have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, the UK’s largest trade union TUC is urging the Government to act quickly and respond to the deepening inequalities for women at work. “Unless ministers strengthen rights and support for working parents, women’s equality risks being set back decades,” pointed out TUC General Secretary  Frances O’Grady.

Women have been put in an impossible situation during the pandemic; often expected to work and look after children at the same time. “Too many working mums are having to cut their hours or being forced to leave their jobs because they cannot manage,” O’Grady stated.  “If ministers don’t act, women will be pushed out of the labour market. And that means women’s and children’s poverty will soar.”  

DEEPENING INEQUALITY

O’Grady is urging ministers to give all parents a  temporary right to  be furloughed and fix the UK’s “lamentable support” for working parents. “That means giving all parents at least  10 days’ paid  parental  leave each year, making real flexible working available to all, and funding childcare properly,” she added.    

One of the recommendations made by the Woman and Equalities Committee report, is to carry out and publish an equality impact assessment on how government policies have affected women. O’Grady backs this recommendation and believes that the Government must urgently carry out and publish equality impact assessments of all its policies during this pandemic. Like other experts she believes, this crisis, and the government’s response to it, “is deepening inequalities for women at work”.

A TUC survey of 52,000 working mums published earlier this month revealed that  nine in 10 had experienced higher levels of anxiety and stress levels during  this  latest  lockdown.    Yet nearly three-quarters (71%) of  those who had  applied for furlough  following  the latest  school closures have had their requests turned down.   

SUPPORT FOR WORKING PARENTS

The TUC is therefore urging the Government to help families balance paid work and childcare, by introducing the following support measures:

• A new temporary right to furlough  for groups who cannot work because of coronavirus restrictions; both parents and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable and required to shield.     
• 10 days’  paid  parental  leave, from day one in a job for all parents.  Currently  parents  have no statutory right to paid leave to look after their children.    
• A right to  flexible work  for all parents – something that the CIPD has also called for in recent weeks, as reported. Flexible working can take lots of different forms, including having predictable or set hours, working from home, job-sharing, compressed hours and term-time working.     
• Give additional financial support to the childcare sector so that childcare providers can continue to offer support to working parents.   
• An increase in sick pay to at least the level of the real  Living  Wage, for everyone in work,  to ensure workers can afford to self-isolate if they need to.    
• Newly self-employed parents  to have  access to the self-employment income support scheme (SEISS).