CWU Equality Month: Rights for Parents and Carers
Union Matters March 9 2021
Tuesday 9th March 2021
March is CWU Equality Month
In Equality Month’s second week, the CWU’s focus is on the fight for sex equality and against discrimination.
Today, in the week when UK children have been returning to school, Katie Dunning looks back at the difficulties parents have faced for many months balancing their caring responsibilities with their work amid the lack of paid family leave…
The self-isolation and social distancing measures introduced by the Government during the pandemic made it increasingly hard for working parents to find alternative childcare arrangements.
For women in particular, who still bear the greater responsibility of caring for children and other vulnerable adults, this had profound implications on their ability to participate in work. Many mothers were faced with no option but to stay at home, often unpaid.
During the first lockdown, the TUC found that one-in-six mums had to reduce their hours at work as a direct result of school and childcare closures, with some being forced out of the workplace altogether.
Working mothers were also reported to have been discriminated against because of difficulties with children, being singled out for unfair treated, being denied more hours at work or even unfairly selected for redundancy.
The legal provisions for time off for employees who have to look after their children when schools, nurseries and other childcare providers are closed, is limited.
Currently, the law provides employees with at least one year’s service an entitlement of up to 18 weeks’ unpaid ordinary parental leave for each child under the age of 18.
The statutory right to time off for dependants provides for a period of unpaid leave in instances of the unexpected disruption or termination of arrangements for the care of a dependant. This would cover time off to arrange alternative childcare in the event of a school closure, but it does not cover extended time off for employees to look after their children themselves.
In 2020, the Government extended its guidance on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, permitting employers to furlough employees who are unable to work because of caring responsibilities. Despite this extension, employers such as Royal Mail and BT used their discretionally powers to refuse furlough to all employees irrespective of their circumstances, offering, instead, unpaid leave or the use of annual leave entitlements to cover absences at work.
The CWU has historically advanced parental workplace policies, such as maternity and paternity leave and pay, however there is still much to do in winning the rights for paid time off for parents to look after children.
Parents and carers need a break. Coronavirus shone a light on the lack of paid leave for working parents. Employers need to recognise this, and the difficulties parents face by continuing to encourage and support staff to work from home where possible. They also need to make reasonable adjustments to working duties and/or working hours to enable this. Where the nature of work means that working from home is not an option, employers need to provide alternative arrangements.
The TUC has been calling on the government to introduce a ‘Day One’ right to 10 days’ paid parental leave and a ‘Day One’ right to flexible work, so that all workers, including those on agency or zero-hour contracts, are not left out.
We know that employers and the Government have the powers to act – they must support working parents.
Please view our equality month programme here for more information and registration details on the many events we have scheduled throughout Women’s Week. We’d love for you to get involved.