- Conference
- 2009 National Women's Conference
- Date
- 21 October 2008
- Decision
- Carried
Conference welcomes the new rights for parents and carers which were introduced in the Work and Families Act 2007, particularly the increases in statutory maternity and adoption pay and allowances, and the removal of the length of service requirement for Additional Maternity Leave.
However, conference notes that, largely due to the efforts of UNISON in negotiating improved maternity and adoption provisions for our members, for many women the improved statutory provisions offer only minimal additional benefits, if any. Enhanced terms are also often available to those women who have served a qualifying period with an employer.
Conference further believes that the current rates of statutory maternity allowance, now £117.18 per week, is simply not sufficient and forces many women to return to work before they would choose to do so.
Whilst it is also essential that we have robust and effective legislation to protect women from discrimination during pregnancy and on their return to work, conference further believes that improvements in partner support leave and allowances would encourage and enable more fathers and partners to play an active role in their children’s first years, and challenge the stereotype that only mothers can do the caring.
Conference therefore calls upon the National Women’s Committee to:
1)Work with UNISON’s service groups to seek to secure further improvements in maternity, maternity support, adoption and carers leave and payments, in excess of the statutory requirements, through the appropriate negotiating bodies.
2)Work with Labour Link to urge the government to make further improvements to the statutory provisions and allowances for mothers and their partners.