Our latest survey of policies to support working parents, including maternity and paternity leave and pay, shared parental leave and pay and adoption pay, has found that almost all of the 111 organisations featured improve on the statutory provisions in some way.
While it is relatively unusual to exceed 52 weeks of maternity leave, for example, the majority (87%) of employers surveyed offer some form of enhanced maternity pay. Under the statutory terms, women who meet the minimum service and income conditions[1] receive 90% of average weekly earnings for the first six weeks of maternity leave, followed by a further 33 weeks at lower-rate statutory maternity pay (SMP), currently worth £156.66. By comparison, our survey found that across the economy, employers who improve on the statutory provision typically offer full pay for 20.7 weeks. The full report of findings from the survey also includes details of how enhanced maternity pay provision varies by sector and organisation size, as well as the conditions attached to occupational maternity pay. The value of enhanced maternity policies has risen in all sectors since we last undertook research in this area four years ago, when the typical provision across all sectors was 16.2 weeks.
Enhanced paternity pay is slightly less common than occupational maternity pay but is nonetheless offered by 82% of respondents. Half of the employers in the sample simply increase statutory paternity pay (SPP, currently £156.66, the same as lower-rate SMP) to full pay for both weeks but some have adopted other approaches, such as offering full pay for a week, followed by a further week at the SPP rate. It is again rare for employers to improve on the two weeks of paternity leave to which eligible staff are legally entitled but 14% do so. As with maternity, the full report also compares paternity pay provision across the public, private services, manufacturing and production and not-for-profit sectors.
Since 2015, parents have been able to share up to 50 weeks’ leave and 37 weeks’ pay following the birth of a child. Nearly two-fifths (37%) of respondents to our survey enhance shared parental pay for co-parents and in most cases, this is on the same terms as their maternity policy.
The report also looks at how employers operate ‘keeping in touch’ and ‘shared parental leave in touch’ (KIT and SPLIT) days and the provisions in place to help parents on their return to work, such as childcare support and enhancements to parental leave.
About the survey
The IDR survey of maternity and paternity pay 2022 was conducted between June and July 2022 and received responses from 111 organisations, together employing 940,801 people. Respondents range from a small private services organisation with seven staff to a large retailer employing 160,000 people. The full, detailed report of the findings will be available from IDR from the end of October at the price of £417 (£375 for participants). To find out more, or to order your copy, please click below:
[1] Earning on average at least £123 a week and having worked continuously for their employer for at least 26 weeks continuing into the ‘qualifying week’ (the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth).
