The prime minister commissioned Adrian Beecroft to assess how to reduce the burden on businesses which claim that excessive regulations are hampering their ability to recover from the recession. It is expected that he might suggest that parents be allowed less flexibility in their family planning in terms of maternity and paternity leave.
In the past, maternity rights have been cited as one of the reasons women experience such difficulty in finding employment. Since the employer is aware that by law they have to give a woman certain rights should she become pregnant or similarly, should she choose to adopt. These rights, manifested in time off work result in costs for the company as well as increased administration.
The government is going to have to perform a balancing act. On the one hand, there is a need to reduce the regulation that small and medium business, less well equipped to handle, must abide by. On the other hand it needs to stand by its own promises made to voters as well as maintain a level of rights that women and their partners have become accustomed to.
At present, employers must provide for certain statutory rights and have a choice as to whether or not to advance more benefits to their staff. The economic climate is expected to have affected company's policies that do offer over and above that which is statutory. Whilst it is easy to see the attraction to smaller firms, in particular, to cut such rights, they should as ever, consider their overall strategy for the business and the likely impact their cuts might have.
Without helpful maternity rights a female employee perfect for the job and your organisation may not choose to apply and in effect the company is losing out on value. The employers should, like the government, perform a balancing act when considering where to make cuts on such policies if they are given the go ahead to do so.
The statutory rights to maternity leave and pay are covered in the Employment Rights Act 1996.